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.
But critics, many of them teachers and administrators, fear the reforms put an unfair burden on poor schools that routinely score low on standardized tests. Fewer add rewards, such as giving grants to improving schools. New Jersey led the way in 1989 and became the first state to take over a poor- performing school district. But state officials found out that taking charge of failing schools didn't inspire, but instead outraged, the community, parents and teachers. Regardless, the state took over two more districts in 1991 and 1995, and still runs all three, said Richard Vespucci, spokesman for New Jersey's Education Department.