Accountability

These days, it is almost impossible to discuss education without also discussing accountability, the idea that states, districts, schools and teachers must face consequences if students do not experience academic success. Systems of accountability have proliferated across the nation since the advent of No Child Left Behind, which has tied public funding to student academic achievement in Math and Reading (the goal is 100 percent student proficiency by 2014). But the roots of accountability actually go back much further and grow out of America's longstanding frustration with the achievement gap between black and Latino students compared with that of their white and Asian counterparts.

Accountability can take many forms and carry a variety of rewards and consequences for the people and institutions that are responsible for raising student achievement. For example, states, districts, schools or teachers might receive monetary rewards for exemplary achievement. Alternatively, if student achievement sags schools might be closed, principals replaced, or funding removed.

In the best of circumstances, accountability systems are collaboratively created with teachers and include "360 degree" provisions, which mean that districts and states must do their share to ensure that schools are adequately funded and include appropriate oversight. Overall, the great challenge of accountability systems is to ensure they are fair, accurate and transparent, and that they adequately acknowledge the obstacles to student achievement over which the schools themselves have no control.

Four things to keep in mind when looking at accountability system are:

1. Accountability measures rely on data that falls into two general categories. Quantitative data is generally numerical. Most of us think immediately of test scores, but graduation and attendance rates are other forms of quantitative data. In New York City, the School Progress Reports are a quantitative measure of school performance. Qualitative data relies more heavily on judgment. New York's Quality Reviews and the evaluation of teachers by observation are both examples of qualitative accountability.
2. All accountability measures are flawed. No single measure can capture a school's - or an individual's - strengths and struggles, and no single measure is fully accurate in what it does capture. That is why a good accountability system will rely on multiple measures and resist the urge to view quantitative data as the sole indicator of success.
3. Accountability produces unintended consequences. Whether it is a narrowing of the curriculum, a "dumbing down" of tests, increased paperwork, or plain old cheating, it is a given that the goal of any accountability system is often distorted by the threat of consequences or the promise of rewards. The phenomenon of goal distortion in accountability systems is often called Campbell's Law. Accountability systems created without considering the unintended consequences they might produce are doomed to fail.
4. Accountability has provided us with increased information about our schools. Because accountability measures are based on information about schools, a side effect - at least here in New York City - has been the increased availability of both qualitative and quantitative information about our schools. This information has allowed all constituents (parents, teachers, and school administrators) to access a great deal of information that can lead to more thoughtful decision-making for our schools.

Useful Links:

• Accountability in New York
  New York City DOE documents and resources on its accountability and performance initiatives.
• The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education
  The report of a task force of notable educators asked to consider the broader context of NCLB in the nation's approach to education and youth development policy. It offers exactly what the name implies - an approach to accountability that places school success in a broader context and seeks to restore balance to our schools.
• Education Equality Project
  Chancellor Joel Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton's vision for American schools.
• Blueprint for Reform President Obama's vision for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
• Strengthening Our Schools: A New Framework and Principles for Revising School Improvement Grants
  A thoughtful new proposal from U.S. Representative Judy Chu (D-CA) that critiques and presents an alternative to the Obama administration's School Improvement Grant model for turning around low-performing schools.