Methodologically diverse and inductive in spirit…[these essays] are looking at the ways the accountability systems operate on and through real people—people who sometimes misunderstand, sometimes deliberately flout, and sometimes creatively reconfigure the incentives meant to steer them and the data meant to inform them. — From the foreword by Jeffrey R. Henig, professor of political science and education, Teachers College, Columbia University

The balance of perspectives in a single volume is refreshing—especially for a subject where taking sides appears to be standard operating procedure. The Infrastructure of Accountability should be required reading for anyone interested in the construction and consequences of test-based accountability systems. — James P. Spillane, Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Chair in Learning and Organizational Change, School of Education and Social Policy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

The authors show how the geometric growth of quantitative data on the performance of students, teachers, and schools may reshape the complex ecology of the classroom in ways that are more conducive to efficiency than education. The foreword and introduction alone are worth the price of the book. — David F. Labaree, professor of education, Stanford University School of Education

More than just supplying readers with a general knowledge of accountability, the diverse perspectives provided in this book allow for a holistic understanding by making visible the "practical, political and moral contours and consequences of this infrastructure." — Kenneth E. Hoover, School Administrator

The time is ripe for an evidence- and theory-based conversation about the future of accountability policies in education, and this book should be used to inform this conversation. I only hope that policymakers and the individuals and organizations that advise them will read this collection and pay attention to the existence and implications—both positive and negative—of the infrastructure of performance-based accountability systems as they consider the best way to move forward. — Katharine O. Strunk, TCR