The demand by a community (public officials, employers, and taxpayers) for school officials to prove that money invested in education has led to measurable learning. “Accountability testing” is an attempt to sample what students have learned, or how well teachers have taught, and/or the effectiveness of a school’s principal’s performance as an instructional leader. School budgets and personnel promotions, compensation, and awards may be affected. Most school districts make this kind of assessment public; it can affect policy and public perception of the effectiveness of taxpayer supported schools and be the basis for comparison among schools. Accountability is often viewed as an important factor in education reform. An assessment system connected to accountability can help identify the needs of schools so that resources can be equitably distributed. In this context, accountability assessment can include such indicators as equity, competency of teaching staff, physical infrastructure, curriculum, class size, instructional methods, existence of tracking, number of higher cost students, dropout rates, and parental involvement as well as student test scores. It has been suggested that test scores analyzed in a disaggregated format can help identify instructional problems and point to potential solutions.