The History of Accountability and the Future of No Child Left Behind

• In Event: Roundtable Session 100
  In Roundtable Session: Creating the Accountability System

Abstract

Abstract
As the Obama administration and congress wrestle with the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, the history of accountability in North Carolina provides a significant source of evidence on the effects of three decades of test based accountability. This paper examines the history of North Carolina’s acclaimed accountability system. I argue that test based reforms gradually shifted responsibility for the outcomes of education from the state to individual students and teachers, diverted attention from the historical causes of differences in achievement, and exaggerated the capacity of tests to improve outcomes. Drawing on evidence from tests administered in North Carolina since 1980, the paper shows that decades of test based accountability has done little to narrow racial gaps in achievement.

Author

• Scott R. Baker, Wake Forest University