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Now more than ever, policymakers face a number of difficult and technical questions in the design and implementation of new accountability approaches. This book gathers the emerging knowledge and lessons learned offered by leading scholars in the field to provide an invaluable resource for policymakers, educators, and anyone interested in the pressing issue of accountability and public schools.

Expert contributors examine and offer recommendations on crucial issues such as:

• The effect of accountability policies on the ability of schools to improve over time.
• The significant variation in the design and effect of accountability systems in different states.
• The validity of assessment measures, including the use of scores for high-stakes decisions about students and schools.
• The choice of accountability measures and the levels of progress to expect.
• How to avoid penalizing schools for socioeconomic problems and other factors out of their control.
• The use of multiple measures of student achievement.
• Inclusion of students with disabilities and limited English proficiency in accountability systems.
• Building teachers' capacity to use information provided by assessments to improve instruction.