This course focuses on the domain of accountability, a concept critical to leaders of educational organizations at all levels. Traditionally, in education, accountability and assessment were only loosely connected. Assessment was used mainly for diagnostic purposes or for dividing students into ability groups. Accountability, on the other hand, was of the political sort as reflected in elected boards’ accountability to local constituents. In K-12 education, schools were accountable to district administrators who, in turn, were accountable to the elected boards. Now, since the advent of standards-based reform, No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) federal legislation, states have developed new types of accountability systems. These systems feature the use of student testing to measure school performance in order to reward schools achieving standards or to sanction schools that fall short. Compared to K-12, accountability in higher education faces different challenges and is less standardized. It is also less influential in decision-making, the allocation of resources, curriculum design, the determination of institutional effectiveness, and evaluation of teaching effectiveness. The majority of states have systems of accountability that require public institutions of higher education to report outcomes such as enrollments, graduation rates, and student performance in licensing exams. Increasingly, states are connecting funding to institutional performance. As state budgets for higher education shrink, accountability is playing a more central role in the evaluation and funding of higher education. In addition, the federal government is playing a greater role in regulation and compliance that increase accountability measures in both public and private universities. This core course on accountability traces the evolution of the accountability concept with an emphasis on emerging accountability issues in urban schools and colleges that serve large numbers of low-income and racial/ethnic minority groups. Special attention will be given to helping leaders understand, analyze, and cope within the context of increased demands for accountability. We will also consider the connections between accountability and the creation of evidence-based school and academic cultures. While most of the examples discussed in this course are in the K-12 or higher education context, students are encouraged to apply the models and theories to other settings (business, health professions, etc.). In fact, much of the course content originated in the private sector over the last 25 years.