Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Accountability has been introduced by many developing countries as a tool of quality control, monitoring and evaluation, and decision-making within school and school systems. Identifying and developing an initial theory of school accountability is a crucial part of evidence synthesis of a large and diverse body of literature.
Objective: We conducted a systematic review aiming to explore the conditions under which school accountability systems operate in the systems to improve schools and learning outcomes.
Methods: At the beginning of the review, we identified a theoretical framework from existing literature that highlighted the five categories of mechanisms that may contribute to the outcome of interest. An iterative search was carried out to identify both published and unpublished literature from a wide range of sources. We assessed quality of a paper based on rigour and relevance and used proposed categories of mechanisms to elaborate and contextualise causal pathways between conditions, mechanisms, and outcomes. This review followed the publication standards for realist reviews put forward by the RAMESES (Realist And Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards) project (Wong 2013).
Findings: Sixty-eight studies were included for in-depth analysis in the final review. In three areas of accountability activity (monitoring, assessment and evaluation), we found evidence of outcomes and associated conditions related to: setting expectations; providing feedback/consequences; and capacity development of educators. Only in inspection did we identify outcomes and associated conditions related to capacity development of stakeholders. We did not find any evidence in any of the areas of accountability activity of the institutionalization of norms.
Conclusions: Although we included evidence from widely varied contexts, the findings suggest that similar types of conditions may be associated with key educational outcomes. The review identified mechanisms that are inter-related and play important roles in how each of the three accountability elements may lead to improvement in school and schooling outcomes.
Objective: We conducted a systematic review aiming to explore the conditions under which school accountability systems operate in the systems to improve schools and learning outcomes.
Methods: At the beginning of the review, we identified a theoretical framework from existing literature that highlighted the five categories of mechanisms that may contribute to the outcome of interest. An iterative search was carried out to identify both published and unpublished literature from a wide range of sources. We assessed quality of a paper based on rigour and relevance and used proposed categories of mechanisms to elaborate and contextualise causal pathways between conditions, mechanisms, and outcomes. This review followed the publication standards for realist reviews put forward by the RAMESES (Realist And Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards) project (Wong 2013).
Findings: Sixty-eight studies were included for in-depth analysis in the final review. In three areas of accountability activity (monitoring, assessment and evaluation), we found evidence of outcomes and associated conditions related to: setting expectations; providing feedback/consequences; and capacity development of educators. Only in inspection did we identify outcomes and associated conditions related to capacity development of stakeholders. We did not find any evidence in any of the areas of accountability activity of the institutionalization of norms.
Conclusions: Although we included evidence from widely varied contexts, the findings suggest that similar types of conditions may be associated with key educational outcomes. The review identified mechanisms that are inter-related and play important roles in how each of the three accountability elements may lead to improvement in school and schooling outcomes.