The era of accountability movement in education can be traced back to the early 1980s when the US federal government published a great report that was known as A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform after assessing the quality of education in the country. The report indicated that the education system in the country was based on mediocrity that was threatening the failure of the whole nation. At the same time, the accountability movement in education emerged due to the concern that the cost of education was increasing yet its quality stagnated or deteriorated. Spending per student increased significantly, especially between 1970 and 2000. However, the achievement regarding students' academic performance remained much lower during the same period. Also, there was increasing concern that students from foreign nations outperformed their US counterparts in international tests. Therefore, the primary purpose of accountability movement in education in the USA was to ensure that the education system achieves the set goals and objects, especially concerning the quality of education ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) . The accountability movement in education was influenced by many factors, including the federal government, the business community, socio-economic, political, and demographic trends.
The federal government has been playing a critical role in enhancing accountability in the education sector for many years. The government's effort to improve accountability in the industry dates back to 1965 when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed into law ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) . The Act required all relevant national and local agencies to make useful reports on the progress of educational programs in the country, particularly the compensatory programs. The specific objective of the Act was to make sure that schools could account for all the money that they received for compensatory programs. Besides, the act required the education agencies to assess the impact of the compensatory programs ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) . Although the Act helped in improving accountability in the education system in the country, some people argued that it was infective in addressing all educational issues. For instance, the Act did not provide a clear guideline for addressing punitive feedbacks that were received by the agencies. At the same, Act did not factor in programs such as Head Start and Follow Through. Nonetheless, the Act influenced accountability in education system significantly.
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To further improve the accountability in education, the federal government introduced the No Child is Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2001, which was intended to ensure that every student succeeds in all subjects, especially technical subjects like mathematics and sciences ( Poochigian, 2006) . Importantly, the NCLB program gave policymakers, parents, agencies, and other education stakeholders to assess and acquire information about how schools are performing. The program gives parents the authority to demand high school performance ( Poochigian, 2006) . Also, the program enables parents to remove their children from low-performing learning institutions and take them to better schools. Besides, to improve accountability in schools, the federal government established Policy Advisory Committees that comprises of parents to boost accountability measures ( Pulliam & Van Patten, 2007) . The federal government empowered parents serving at the committees to conduct through accountability assessment. Therefore, the accountability movement in education was mainly initiated by the federal government after it realized that the educational system was threatening the success of the country.
Apart from the federal government, the business community has a substantial influence on the education system in the USA. Business and education play a vital role in the success of an economy and the country at large. Even though the business values are more tangible than those of education, the two sectors are closely related, and they influence each other. Business players are concerned with quality and improved labor force, which can only be provided by an effective education system. At the same time, the education system depends a lot of resources that are provided by the business community ( Pulliam & Van Patten, 2007) . What is taught in schools and colleges have has always been influenced by industries and the business community?
However, with the poor quality education system, the business community in the country raised concerns about college graduates who could not perform even simple tasks in the workplace. The productivity of the workforce in many industries started to decline, and business could not easily find some of the qualified employees in technical fields ( Pulliam & Van Patten, 2007) . Consequently, the business community started to demand accountability in educations, especially concerning the quality of college graduates. The community demanded a change in curriculum and education system to make them relevant to the job market. Thus, the business community contributed a lot to the accountability movement in education.
Some social and political trends influenced the accountability movement in education in the USA. The accountability movement got a significant boost from social and political discontent that was associated with the poor quality of the education system in the country ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) . Social service agencies, for instance, complained that cases of poverty, anti-social behaviors, and violence were increasing in the country, particularly among young people and school-going children. According to the social service agencies and providers, such problems were linked to the ineffectiveness of the education system in meeting its goals and objectives and modeling the desired behaviors of students.
Besides, the increased government involvement in the education system was a political trend that shaped the accountability movement in the education sector in the country. The declining quality of education in the USA had become one of the most controversial political issues, and political leaders were striving to address the problem. President George Bush, for instance, organized education summit that involved corporate leaders as well as governors in 1989 to address educational issues ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) . The elite group that attended the summit was tasked with the responsibility of making recommendations and goals that could help in restoring the quality of education. The same trend was followed by President Clinton and George Wako Bush who organized the national educational summits with the aim of introducing reforms in the education sector. Political leaders are concerned that a lot of money was spent on education yet the outcomes were insignificant. Politics continue to influence education even today as leaders want academic and financial accountability from schools.
The main economic trend that is influencing accountability movement is the increasing cost of education. The expenditure per student has been increasing since 1970, and the trend continues to be experienced across the education system in the country. The average spending per student in 1970 was $5,984, and it increased to $12,008 in 2000 ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) . In 2013, the spending per student was estimated to be $13,142 ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) . Unfortunately, despite the increasing cost of education, the academic performance has not improved. The increasing cost of education made parents and education stakeholders demand accountability. Besides, the desire for high and quality academic achievement played a role in influencing the accountability movements. Parents always want their children to excel in schools. As a result, they played close attention to what was going on in schools, especially when their children were not performing as expected ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) .
Besides, critics of education always demand accountability in the sector. They always maintain that the education system in the country does not effectively prepare students for their future roles in the workforce and the larger society. According to the critics of the American education system, a significant number of students in the country do not have proficiency in core subjects like math and sciences ( Deming & Figlio, 2016) . Many students who graduate from high schools were ill-prepared to join colleges. The critics of education, therefore, influenced the development of accountability movement in education substantially.
Finally, I believe that the accountability movement will remain a strong force in the future, particularly when significant reforms are not achieved in the education sector. Many educational stakeholders continue to seek accountability in schools, primarily concerning academic performance. The US government is also determined to ensure that accountability in education is achieved and maintained. Public schools largely depend on funds from the federals and local governments, and they will be forced to adhere to the accountability requirements. At the same time, I believe that the education sector in the country will continue to receive criticism from various sources, making accountability movement to remain a strong force that will transform the sector. However, the success of the accountability movement to achieve the set goals and objectives will primarily depend on the efforts made by the federal government. Clear laws, policies, and regulations should be formulated and implemented to enhance accountability in education.
References
Deming, D. J., & Figlio, D. (2016). Accountability in US education: Applying lessons from K-12 experience to higher education. Journal of Economic Perspectives , 30 (3), 33-56.
Poochigian, C. (2006). School Accountability Reforms Only Work with Parental Involvement. Reason Foundation. Retrieved from https://reason.org/wp- content/uploads/2005/03/1526336481154ce086e50483c95a8248.pdf
Pulliam, J. D., & Van Patten, J. (2007). History of Education in America . Pearson Prentice Hall.
