How Did We Get Here? Institutions, Ideologies, and Meaning-Making in Accountability Policy

• In Event: 69.056 - Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: 69.056-4 - Policy and Politics in U.S. School Reform

Abstract

Despite ongoing debate, accountability policy has taken hold as a resilient framework in education. The idea of accountability has had rumblings in education for over a century. However, it has not been until recently that local accountability functions have been packaged and embedded into far-reaching public policies such as No Child Left Behind. Policy’s form shapes its causal effect. This study uses the lenses of ideologies and institutions to study accountability policy development. It employs theoretical coding and computational linguistics to study political party platforms from 1952-2012. By studying how accountability came to take on its current meaning, it provides important insight into our current policy environment.

Author

• Debbie Kim, Northwestern University