Strengthening Accountability in Public Education

Creating accountability in public education is extraordinarily complex. No single policymaker or provider is responsible for failing students. Rather, a complex web of policymakers and providers is responsible. This literature, synthesized in the World Bank’s 2004 World Development Report, identifies three key actors: clients or customers of public services; direct service providers; and policymakers who make decisions about how much education to provide and how to organize its financing and delivery (World Bank 2003).