No Child Left Behind?: The Politics and Practice of School Accountability

Identifying "accountability" as the central aim of the No Child Left Behind Act (signed by George W. Bush in January 2002), Peterson (of Stanford U.'s Hoover Institution) and West (Harvard U.) present 13 papers that sympathetically describe the political origins of "accountability politics," examine educational practice as it is impacted by the law and other similar regulations, and explore the possible impacts of the "accountability" movement. Also discussed are the groups that are opposed to "accountability" measures, such as teachers and significant groups of parents, as well as ways to overcome their objections or opposition. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government at Harvard, the director of PEPG, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is author or editor of numerous books, including The Education Gap: Vouchers and Urban Schools, with William G. Howell (Brookings, 2004 and 2006). Martin R. West is an assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He was formerly a guest scholar in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.