Martin Carnoy is Professor of Education and Economics at Stanford University. His work has appeared in Dollars and Sense, The American Prospect, Education Week, and Tikkun. Richard Elmore is Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership at Harvard University. LeslieSiskin is currently Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at Cambridge University.

"'These careful, thorough studies of what actually happens when the standards-and-assessment juggernaut hits the complex American comprehensive high school deserve careful pondering by the policy community. They compellingly suggest that a second, honest look at contemporary reform strategy is needed for the schools serving America's teenagers.' Theodore R. Sizer, Professor Emeritus, Brown University, USA"

• 1. Introduction, 2. Conditions and Characteristics of Assessment and Accountability: The Case of Four States, Diana Rhoten, Martin Carnoy, Melissa Chabran, and Richard Elmore, 3. Internal Alignment and External Pressure: High School Responses in Four State Contexts, Elizabeth DeBray, Gail Parson, and Salvador Avila, 4. Outside the Core: Accountability in Tested and Untested Subjects, Leslie Santee Siskin, 5. Leadership and the Demands of Standards-Based Accountability, Richard Lemons, Tom Luschei, and Leslie Santee Siskin, 6. Listening to Talk From and About Students on Accountability, Melissa Chabrán, 7. The Impact of Accountability Policies in Texas' High Schools, Martin Carnoy, Susanna Loeb, and Tiffany Smith, 8. The Challenge of High Schools, Leslie Santee Siskin, 9. Psychiatrists and Light Bulbs, Richard Elmore,