Accountability Via Transparency

By Chester E. Finn Jr., Bruno V. Manno, and Gregg Vanourek

Charter school discussions are saturated with talk about accountability. Some view it as the third rail of the charter movement, others as the Holy Grail. Some fear it will undermine charter schools. Others see it as a desirable but unrealistic goal. We believe there is a way to piece together the puzzle of charter accountability, a way with large implications for U.S. public education.

Today's modal form of public school accountability depends on rules and compliance: Make schools follow lots of regulations, micromanage their activities, and ensure that enforcers and bureaucratic controls keep anyone from doing anything untoward. When something goes awry, another regulation or enforcer is put in place to ensure that such a thing never happens again.

The language of accountability-via-regulation is the only one that most school systems speak. It's also the one that many people have in mind for charter schools. That will only make charter schools like conventional schools, crippling their...