The accountability system that derived from the No Child Left Behind Act is characterized by an organized method that is based on three components: achieving academic standards and evaluations, measuring and tracking the achievement of all students, and containing sanctions as well as rewards for public schools’ obligation to provide achievement for all students. Passed in 2001, the Act mandates annual testing, as well as designating a method for assessing school accountability, setting a timeline to achieve progress, and developing certain consequences when schools fail to meet those requirements (Wenning, 2003). This was a significant expansion of the concept of accountability of both school performance and students’ progress, since previously, it was up to individual states whether and how they would measure school performance. The majority of educators agree with the fact that holding teachers accountable is a crucial variable in order for student learning to occur (Bates, 2008). Nevertheless, there remains a question about how accountability can be determined as well as the place and value of professionalism in accountability (Bates, 2008.)

One complicating factor, regarding accountability, is the fact that teachers cannot control all of the factors that are involved in how a student performs on a standardized test. For example, family background can certainly influence the way a student performs on a test, yet it is completely out of the control of the teachers’ realm and cannot be considered to be a factor that is a reflection of the teacher’s competence, although it may significantly affect a student’s score on a standardized test.

No Child Left Behind uniquely included mandated testing to an all-inclusive population by covering all student groups, K-12 public school students (Wenning, 2003). The mandates of the testing included all students, including those who were enrolled in charter schools.