An accountable school is seen as being one that (1) discloses its activities, (2) makes good on staff promises, (3) assigns staff responsibility for each area of public concern, and (4) monitors its teaching and learning. School accountability laws are seen as a national demand that must be satisfied. To satisfy the present demands for legislation, to help the schools change, and to be least damaging to what the schools are doing well, a school accountability law should call for the following characteristics: (1) commitments from schools to provide high-quality teaching, opportunities for enriching experiences, and accommodation to the individual needs and aspirations of students and teachers; (2) an annual visit to each school by at least one committee of citizens; (3) judgment as to quality of instruction made by professional educators both inside and outside the school; (4) standardized measures of student basic skills by testing and by professional observation; (5) updated specifications of the errors of measurement for individual student scores, group means, and differences of both, as well as errors of measurement in nonstandardized observations and professional judgment; (6) each school should have a confidentiality policy; (7) each school should have a grievance procedure; (8) one or more centers should be established for the evaluation of individual teacher competence; and (9) schools should be supported in efforts to keep bureaucracy to a minimum. To be in the best interests of the people, state accountability laws should protect local control of the school, individuality of teachers, and diversity of learning opportunities. (DB)