State and national school accountability policies situate preventing chronic absenteeism on par with meeting state standardized test benchmarks. We question relying on school attendance as both a component of accountability policies and a means of enhancing equity in schools. Our research suggests out-of-school factors unrelated to missed…

Examines the use of educational indicators to serve educational policy ends, the potential benefits and dangers of various uses, and how to forge guidelines for appropriate relationships between indicators and policy. Indicators should not be used as administrative controls or policy levers, but to illuminate educational activities and processes…