Education Accountability and High-Stakes Testing in the Carolinas: Briefing Summary

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is conducting a study of accountability issues in elementary and secondary education. In focusing on the topic, the Commission hosted a briefing on February 6, 2003, in Charlotte, North Carolina, to examine the effect of national and local reform measures and high-stakes testing in North and South Carolina. One of the most significant reforms to take place is the passage of No Child Left Behind. This legislation, signed by President Bush on January 8, 2002, changes the federal government’s role in kindergartenthrough-grade-12 education by asking America’s schools to describe their success in terms of what each student accomplishes. The act is based on four education reform principles: stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.1[1] The Commission’s preliminary research on education reform and No Child Left Behind reveals that standards-based education reform must not only hold students, parents, teachers, and administrators accountable, but it must also provide them sufficient resources and support.