Measurement and Research in the Accountability Era

The subject of accountability warrants thoughtful and dispassionate attention in today's educational environment. The accountability and school reform policies that are put in place today will have wide-ranging and long-lasting consequences for all of the nation's learners. This volume stems from the 2003 Educational Testing Service Invitational Conference that convened leading scholars and practitioners from education, psychology, economics, statistics, and public policy to discuss the important topic of measurement and accountability. The book begins with a broad look at where measurement and research have been and then moves into an examination of technical and methodological issues in accountability systems, closing learner achievement gaps, teacher quality issues, econometric perspectives, and finally, the all-important matter of aligning curriculum, standards, and assessment. The chapters cover all significant aspects of the current accountability scene, with careful but not exclusive attention to the No Child Left Behind. Written by nationally recognized scholars with a mandate to write in a non-technical style, this volume appeals to anyone seriously interested in school reform and the educational accountability movement.