Accountability in US Education: Applying Lessons from K-12 Experience to Higher Education
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 30,
no. 3, Summer 2016
(pp. 33-56)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
A new push for accountability has become an increasingly important feature of education policy in the United States and throughout the world. Broadly speaking, accountability seeks to hold educational institutions responsible for student outcome using tools ranging from performance "report cards" to explicit rewards and sanctions. We survey the well-developed empirical literature on accountability in K-12 education and consider what lessons we can learn for the design and impact of college ratings. Our bottom line is that accountability works, but rarely as well as one would hope, and often not entirely in the ways that were intended. Research on K-12 accountability offers some hope but also a number of cautionary tales.Citation
Deming, David J., and David Figlio. 2016. "Accountability in US Education: Applying Lessons from K-12 Experience to Higher Education." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30 (3): 33-56. DOI: 10.1257/jep.30.3.33Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H52 National Government Expenditures and Education
- H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
- I21 Analysis of Education
- I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
- I28 Education: Government Policy
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