AccountabilityWorks (AW) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting educators, parents, and policymakers interested in quality assessments and other accountability systems.

AW supports well-designed and effectively executed systems that help those involved with elementary and secondary education to ensure that students achieve academic success. We emphasize careful development because poorly designed or implemented systems--however well-intentioned--can lead to results that are self-defeating, wasteful or unfair.

Most important, we believe that the most effective type of accountability is that which is self-imposed; goals, measures and interventions that are adopted directly by educators, parents and students often result in the greatest benefit.

AW engages in a wide range of projects and activities, many described on this website, in support of its goals. Highlights of our current activities include:

• Development of a web-based assessment tool for parents, as well as educators, to determine student mastery of core arithmetic skills in mathematics. More information about Arithmetic Testing OnLine (ATOL) may be found here.

• The launch of AW's new Center for Data-Driven Decisionmaking (CD3) is led by Dr. Kathleen Madigan, a strong recent addition to the AW team. The Center exists to support the use of data in making effective instructional decisions. More information about CD3 may be found here.
  

• One of AW's largest ongoing activities is the Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA). CELLA is an English Language Proficiency test designed to be used with English Language Learners (ELL). By end of 2007, there had been over 500,000 individual student administrations of CELLA. More information may be found here.
  

• In partnership with Pioneer Institute, AW is developing information briefs for policymakers on differential compensation for educators in critical shortage areas, such as mathematics and science. This activity is supported through a grant from the Broad Foundation. More information to come in the fall of 2008.