School accountability policies are high on the political agenda in all western countries. All countries are under pressure to provide high quality education at all levels at a low cost. Some nations, states and school districts already have several decades of experience with various school accountability policies, while other nations – primarily in Europe - have only just started introducing such policies. We study the impact of accountability policies in three vastly different educational environments: Texas public high schools, Florida schools and Danish public schools, where the policies were introduced at different points in time. We present evidence on the short-term impacts in Denmark, long-term impacts in Texas and on segregation and choice in Florida. Preliminary results indicate that the overall short-term benefits are positive even under low pressure, the overall long-term benefits are negligible, while the impact on pupil sorting results in increased segregation by education.