I would answer your question in a slightly different way.  There are activities in high schools that are actually lowering student achievement and affecting the accountability of high school teachers.  See John Hattie's book, "Visible Learning for Teachers,"  Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York, 2012.  Hattie's Appendix C list of 150 influences on achievement (effect sizes) is based on the largest study of education in the history of the world. (240,000,000 students). Hattie's book is really "all about student achievement and thus teacher and administration accountability."

Hi Anisa, I think you'll find the link below interesting - When Accountability Knocks, Will Anyone Answer? (Abelmann & Elmore 1999). They develop a framework for investigating internal accountability systems in schools and provide a several case studies.

Anisa:

I have not done much research in this area, so I looked at what is available in RG, which appears to be relevant to your question. I extend best wishes for every success in your research and wish you a happy and holy Christmas and prosperous New Year.

Best regards,

Debra

https://www.researchgate.net/publicliterature.PublicLiterature.search.html?type=keyword&search-keyword=acceptance+of+Educational+accountability+by+high+school+teachers&search-abstract=&search=Search

If there is no accountability for educational administration (senior leadership), it's no stretch of the imagination to see that there will be little to no buy-in at the school level.  Accountability should be a mirror into which all levels of the organization see the same reflection.  I suggest starting with a holistic view of the problem, and then focus on the top.  This may not completely answer your question, but I would hazard to say it explains, at least from a psycho-social standpoint, why accountability programs for staff on the ground often end in failure.  

I've noted some publications for you below.  My apologies if three out of the four tend to focus on the darker aspects of leadership in education.  In truth, there's not much out there that address the linkages between accountability in executive educational leadership and the success of accountability measures in the field.  Perhaps to do so is a window into the "secrecy" of which Sarnier writes.  

I am focussing my current research in this area, precisely because of the deafening silence on the subject in the literature. 

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1. Sarason, S. (1990) The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform: Can We Change Course Before It's Too Late? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

2. Samier, E., (2008) “The Problem of Passive Evil in Educational Administration: Moral Implications of Doing Nothing". International Studies in Educational Administration, 36(1) pp.  2-21.

3. West-Burnham, J., (2009) Rethinking Educational Leadership: From Improvement to Transformation  London: Bloomsbury Academic.

4. Samier, E., (2014) Secrecy and tradecraft in educational administration: The covert side of educational life. NY: Routledge. 

I endorse Wendy's discussion and plans to focus on this area of research - the record of this in ed admin is slight compared to some related fields.

I agree with Wendy J. Grondzil

And accountability also means very different things in different political systems and cultures. It is normative construct that too often is tied to neoliberal conceptions of economic value and a market model - essentially eliminating or marginalisaing many systems of higher order values. One can approach this a number of ways, from various critical theory perspectives, or cultural perspectives, but also most philosophical frameworks, and even humanistic psychology approaches.