Model school may also fall short Most, like Arizona, label schools based on test scores and dropout rates. Texas adds attendance rates. Alabama includes a school's safety record and finances.
People talk as if 'accountability and standards' are all the same thing.
It's different everywhere and how each state deals with it is unique. The trend now is for states to create standardized tests, judge schools on students' scores, sanction poor-performing schools and reward those that do well. Most often, Griffith said, states push these accountability measures on parents and teachers, who complain to lawmakers, who then slow the reform effort. You just can't move ahead without buy in. Supporters say such reform measures close the learning gap between rich and poor schools.