The Economics of Education, 2nd Edition

Chapter 42

The economics of school accountability

D.N. Figlio ^a , and H.F. Ladd ^{b       a} Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States      ^b Duke University, Durham, NC, United States

Abstract

Demands for more accountability and results-based incentive systems in K-12 education come from many directions and currently dominate much of the education policy discussion at both the state and federal levels in the United States (Ladd, 1996; Ladd & Hansen, 1999) and abroad (Burgess, Propper, Slater, & Wilson, 2005). Accountability in education is a broad concept that could be addressed in many ways: using political processes to assure democratic accountability, introducing market-based reforms to increase accountability to parents ...