International Project for the Study of Educational Accountability Systems (IPEA)

Using standardized tests of student achievement to monitor educational systems and hold educators accountability has been a cornerstone of educational policy in the U.S. and U.K. for years and is now a central element of education reform in many countries worldwide. Studies have shown that in education, as in many other fields, overly simple outcomes-based accountability systems can generate severe distortions, but the research base is not yet sufficient to guide the development of more effective systems.

The IPEA was established in response. Chaired by Professor Daniel Koretz of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, IPEA is an international, interdisciplinary network of researchers working on the design and effects of test-based monitoring and accountability systems. Issues currently under consideration by IPEA members include the relative effects of information-oriented and accountability-oriented externally imposed tests, the effects of different types of accountability systems on instruction, school- and system-level predictors of score inflation, innovations in test design to make assessments better suited to use in accountability systems, and the functioning of inspectorates and other judgmental measures in test-based systems.