This paper places Kentucky's accountability program in the national context, and then describes how educators in four rural Kentucky school districts reacted to the program in the initial years of its implementation. The information is drawn from a qualitative study of the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) in these four districts, which began in 1990 and was ongoing through the 1994-95 school year. The KERA assessment and accountability program, the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System, uses a performance-based test with open-response questions, performance events, and portfolios. Observation, interviews, and document review were used to study the reactions of educators in the four target districts. Very few of the teachers interviewed in these districts accepted the KERA philosophy that all children can achieve at high levels. However, the study produced evidence that the accountability measures were beginning to drive the reform effort to some extent in that teachers changed their instruction to focus on writing and schools were adding new courses. There was also evidence that at least some teachers were making a stronger effort to reach all students. Most commonly, however, teachers taught to the test because they were forced into it, and they often resented this. The KERA effort might be more successful if the focus was placed more on building teacher capabilities than on the rewards and punishments as they are now conceived. (Contains 24 references.) (SLD)