Teachers College President Susan H. Fuhrman has been named co-chair of a new Roundtable on Education Systems and Accountability (RESA), established at the request of the U.S. Department of Education by the National Research Council's Board on Testing and Assessment.

Created in anticipation of the next reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, RESA is intended to bring together experts from a variety of perspectives-'"including federal and state officials, education policymakers and constituency representatives, and education researchers-'"for dialogue and discussion on important issues surrounding education accountability.

A central focus will be the evolution of the federal role in K-12 education, with particular attention to key education policy issues that are like to have impact on the national, state and local levels both during and following the reauthorization of ESEA. These will likely include higher standards to prepare high school graduates for college or work; the effect of standards-based reform on classroom instruction; and incentives to improve school quality and achievement. RESA will also work to identify where federal and state accountability systems should be heading and potential challenges to implementation.

Fuhrman is a widely recognized expert on accountability issues. She is the founding director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), the nation's first federally funded education policy center, which, under her leadership, has played a major role during the past 30 years in analyzing the education standards movement. Among her many published works are Redesigning Accountability Systems for Education (co-edited with Richard Elmore, 2004); From the Capitol to the Classroom: Standards-Based Reform in the States (2001); and Rewards and Reform: Creating Educational Incentives that Work (with Jennifer O'Day, 1996).

Fuhrman also is President-elect of the National Academy of Education. She will co-chair RESA with Tom Luce, chief executive officer of The National Math and Science Initiative and former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.