Educational institutions that are strong in internal accountability and those that can be described as “learning organizations” tend to respond better to the demands of external accountability. It is advantageous for universities, districts, or schools to be engaged in knowledge development and capacity building as this in turns leads to improvement. This unit examines how internal and external accountability are related, or what can be done internally in an organization in order to lead to improvement on external measures. Unit learning goals When you finish this unit you will have learned to: 1. Define a learning organization and how it relates to accountability. 2. Identify the central features of an accountability system. 3. Critically examine the assumptions upon which external accountability systems are built. 4. Understand the relationship between accountability and organizational capacity. 5. Identify the ingredients of an accountability system that is likely to lead to school improvement. Questions to answer before class as you complete your reading assignment: 1. What is the relationship between accountability and organizational capacity? 2. What is a “learning organization”? 3. What are the ingredients of an accountability system that are likely to lead to organizational improvement?