I thought I knew all about accountability from my experiences in business. Little did I know that everyone expects teachers to be accountable for EVERYTHING. My first year teaching middle school I felt as if I did nothing but try to prepare my students for one test or another. My instruction was totally dominated by fear and misunderstanding of assessment. During the summer after that year, I took a long, hard look at what my students needed to learn and how I was going to help them get there. I created a grading system that made sense, added realistic informal assessment strategies to my instructional plans and read everything I could get my hands on about alternative and authentic assessment. That second year I felt like I was guiding my students much more effectively and that I was helping them to make real, measurable progress.                           Alan, middle school teacher for 11 years