Siren song: Performance-based accountability systems, effectiveness, and equity. Evidence from PISA in education systems in Europe and Canada

In recent decades, accountability has become a centerpiece of educational reforms globally. Pushed by transnational policy discourses, performance-based accountability systems (PBAS) have become a key policy instrument to improve the performance of public schools and to enhance equity in education systems. The goal of this study was to test this assumption. Using PISA 2012 data, we report on the multifaceted forms of accountability systems, highlighting key instrumental dimensions of PBAS, and providing a typology of accountability systems in education systems in Europe and Canada. We therefore question their associations with the degrees of effectiveness and equity in education systems little studied by quantitative comparative research, with mixed findings. While PBAS that rely on incentives for teachers as well as on a wide range of tools are related with lower levels of overall performance and higher levels of inequality of basic skills, no association was found with the other types of accountability systems that emerged from the study. This study therefore extends discussions on PBAS beyond high-stakes accountability systems and points to the need to adopt a critical stance to question the status of PBAS as an effective policy solution to improve student achievement and to tackle educational inequalities.