The rest expect school systems to be involved at several points. In Illinois, for example, local personnel are often on special review teams that help schools find ways to improve. The state also requires districts to bring in assistance from sources outside the education bureaucracy, such as universities or private contractors. Only four states can use sanctions against districts that have persistently failing schools. West Virginia officials, for instance, can take over an entire district if one or more schools have poor achievement on statewide tests.
Some states hold districts rather than schools accountable for performance.
Mississippi and New Jersey, for instance, have report cards, ratings, and interventions for districts but not for schools. When New Jersey schools excel on the state's exams, their districts are given monetary rewards. But there is no consensus among the states about the role districts should play, and in many states the specified roles are relatively minor. Rather than specify a role for districts in helping schools improve, most states appear to rely on the publicity that is generated by the ratings to get districts moving. Maryland is one state that does make districts explicitly accountable for their schools.