Opinion: Accountability Works. Outcomes-Based Contracting Makes It Work Better

The article notes that No Child Left Behind coincided with fast achievement gains for Black, Hispanic, and low-income students, but when the accountability framework loosened after 2015, scores fell. The author argues that meaningful accountability is profoundly valuable, citing states like Mississippi and Louisiana as examples of improvement through this method. Although acknowledging flaws such as narrowing curricula, the piece stresses that accountability's core purpose is to shed light on and advance learning in underperforming populations.