The promises and perils of school leadership for accountability four lessons from China, Hong Kong, and India

The form and the extent of accountability have changed in many countries as well the chains of accountability. As accountability has become a more prominent feature of twenty-first century education systems, the question arises how this impacts educational leadership. A claim to draw from this would be that systems of external accountability need to be de-emphasized or at least made flexible as learning organizations need to have the space to establish a self-contained accountability system, determining their own frame of accountability. Imaginable would be a digital school where all grades and all administrative data are treated digitally. This in combination with a standardized yet adaptable accountability framework could make for a form of accountability that does not overburden schools resources. Many accountability frameworks have evolved to take into account more than student achievement scores. More research into the impact of accountability systems on schools as well as on productive leadership practices in accountable policy contexts is needed.