This paper introduces the symposium in two ways. On the basis of an important literature review, it discusses first the following main points: 1) the various and polysemous meanings of accountability in education policy and more largely in the public sphere 2) main dimensions of so-called “new” accountability policies in education (with a brief development of their genesis) 3) an essay of typology of recent accountability policies in education, based both on the tools of public action involved and the theory of regulation embedded in the policy (conception of the actor and expected mediations in the regulation process) . Four rationales of accountability policies could be analytically distinguished mixing in different proportion formal accountability and reporting tools and moral expectations of professionnal responsibility and answerability from teachers and principals for the results of their action : 1) high stake accountability 2) neo-bureaucratic accountability 3) formal and reflexive accountability 4) soft and reflexive responsibility. These logics will be illustrated by european or north-american cases.