Final answer:
An intended direct effect is when schools respond by teaching more efficiently due to school accountability measures rewarding high test scores, aligning with the policy's intention to improve educational outcomes.
Step-by-step explanation:
School accountability measures:
The outcome of more efficiently teaching students due to school accountability measures rewarding high test scores would be considered an intended direct effect. The government's intention behind these measures was to improve educational outcomes, and a direct effect refers to an outcome that occurs as a result of a policy being implemented exactly as planned. If schools enhance their teaching methods to improve test scores and thus receive rewards, this process aligns directly with the intended purpose of the policy.
No Child Left Behind and other similar policies implemented in the U.S. sought to establish national standards and to financially incentivize schools based on students' standardized test performance. Nevertheless, this has led to the phenomenon of 'teaching to the test', which focuses on equipping students to succeed on standardized tests.