When it comes to the issue of US education reform, hopeful politicians, liberal and conservative alike, have long touted the promises of 'standards-based accountability'. But do accountability based reforms actually work? What happens when they encounter the formidable challenge of the comprehensive high school? The New Accountability explores the current wave of assessment-based accountability reforms at the high school level in the United States.

"Standard-based accountability" has become a consistent buzzword emanating from the mouths of hopeful politicians-liberal and conservative-for almost twenty years. But does accountability work? The New Accountability explores the current wave of assessment-based school accountability reforms, which combine two traditions in American education-public accountability and student testing.