American Charter School Education Accountability Of,

The charter school is an experiment in U.S.public school reform in the 1990s.As a new type of school based on parental choice, school autonomy and education accountability, it is a great challenge for the conventional public school accountability. It is a key to the charter school movement to creat a new type of effective accountability.This paper,based on the relationship between accountability and school improvement, seeks to clarify the context of charter school accountability, its connotation ,mode and its operational mechanism.The first part is the discussion of the context of the U.S.charter school accountability and its related concepts.The U.S.charter school accountability is a reflection of both U.S.chater school movement and accountability movement. The charter school movement reflects the three essential principles(i.e. accountability,choice and transparency)on which American public schools are being reconstructed.This paper argues that accountability means a relationship between two persons or organizations in which one acknowledges an obligation to perform some task of function,and the other expects that the task or function will be performed. Accountability is a process to improve school as well as a mechanism through which information is produced. In addition, accountability is a systematic concept which requires a systematic perspective.The second part expounds connotation of accountability by comparing the charter school accountability and conventional school accountability. In discussing the mode of the charter school accountability, this paper analyses three modes of accountability,based on the relationship between accountability and school improvement. We argue that market-based accountability adopted by charter school focuses on the balance of accountability and autonomy and transparency of educational information.The third and fourth part gives a description of the operational mechanism of charter school. Focusing on the strengthening of educational information,the third part describe the operation of charter school accountability from the level of charter schools,authorizers, and state governments. Viewing from the accountability relationship,the fourth part describes the operation of the internal accountability relationship and the external accountability relationship.In conclusion, based on the conclusion from charter school accountability, this paper presents some implications for the creation of modern school system in China.