This article attempts to clarify issues concerning, and provide the background needed to understand, the roots and assumptions of the movement towards accountability as well as the movement to technologize curriculum planning and teaching. (RC)

Paper focuses on one attempt to train teachers to be knowledgeable, caring, and capable of designing instructional activities that promote desirable learning in young children. (Authors/CB)

Author discusses the 12 basic and rather fundamental principles underlying newer teaching accountability concepts. (Author/MB)

A more balanced approach to learning is proposed which incorporates a system of control that does not impinge upon the freedom of students. The stewardship principle embodies elements of both freedom and control while possessing as its base the free exercise of responsibility. (JN)

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) represents the greatest extension to date of Federal authority over public school governance. In NCLB, Congress used its conditional spending power to push states and localities into enacting particular kinds of testing and accountability policies. This article places NCLB in the context of Congress's generally…

Presents four case studies from Rhode Island (lifelong legislative deference); Washington (popular elections, judicial turnover, and case outcomes); Illinois (fighting changes in state ideologies); and Vermont (political aftermath of judicial decisions) which offer a sampling of the politics of court and state contexts involved in holding…

Australian researchers studied principals' responses to the Principal Performance Appraisal procedure. Interviews and a survey indicated principals were positive about the appraisal process, but they saw a considerable discrepancy between actual and ideal reasons for its introduction. They saw positive benefits if it focused on professional…

Examines educational conditions and resources, institutional characteristics, and political factors contributing to the shaping of states' educational accountability policies. Analysis of data from a variety of sources indicates that the main predictors of states' accountability policies are National Assessment of Educational Progress performance…

Discusses the history and politics of H.R. 3801, an act to provide for the improvement of federal education research, statistics, evaluation, information, and dissemination, focusing on antecedents (the 1994 legislation), consequences of the 1994 election, experience of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, federal education research…

Cyber and home school charter schools have silently become a prominent part of the charter school movement. These alternative school models differ from conventional schools by relying on parents and the Internet to deliver much of their curriculum and instruction while minimizing the use of personnel and physical facilities. This article examines…

Explores several dilemmas facing those interested in developing processes for principal evaluation and, drawing from program evaluation practices, suggests a consumer-oriented, outcomes-based approach for evaluating principals. The article concludes with a set of criteria for assessing any principal evaluation program. (GLR)

Examines interconnections between accountability, power, and control within the British education system, focusing on the 5-18 education. Although some of the structures and processes are very similar to those of the U.S. K-12 system, the British national system is highly centralized and highly market-driven, with a strong emphasis on parental…

The issue covered in this paper involves accountability, an issue that has been discussed almost entirely in terms of adequate instruments for measuring learning and teacher effectiveness, rather than in terms of philosophical assumptions. (JD)