The Public Schools Accountability Act and the California high school as a learning organization

California educators now answer to additional requirements imposed by the state legislature. The Public Schools Accountability Act calls for each school to consistently raise its Academic Performance Index (API) or face sanctions. While achieving short-term gains has been relatively easy, long-term gains have proved far more elusive. The purpose of this project was to work with a California high school to negotiate its way through this new accountability landscape.; A focus group methodology was used to examine the short- and long-term responses to the requirements of the PSAA. Four focus groups were recruited from each of three shareholder groups: Parents, students, and teachers. Each of two paired focus groups generated a list of either short-term or long-term strategies and discussed the strengths and obstacles extant within the school community for carrying out the selected strategies. Actions proposed were grouped thematically into strands and strategies that formed the basis for recommendations that were provided to the site.; The study revealed support for long-term strategies that target a wider range of measures for student achievement than test scores only. Almost paradoxically, however, the stakeholders also recognized the need for all students to be explicitly taught test taking skills as an important life skill. All stakeholder groups identified teacher and student attitudes and motivation as important points of leverage for improvement.; The study methodology revealed differences between stakeholder groups and was thus successful in obtaining a wide variety of input. The focus group protocol was also successful in obtaining both short- and long-term actions. The study methodology thus showed promise as a tool to promote the kind of organizational learning that might result in long-term improvement in student achievement and test scores.