Too often for our taste, articles in the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's magazine Educational Leadership reflect the status quo. But sense shone through in a recent issue on "The Challenges of Accountability," especially in articles by Craig Jerald and Frederick Hess. Jerald, in "Beyond the Rock and the Hard Place," calls on teachers and administrators to quit complaining about the requirements of accountability and get the job done, and to stop excusing problems like push-outs or teachers cheating on standardized tests as inevitable consequences of holding people accountable. Hess, in "The Case for Being Mean," makes, well, the case for being mean - or better put, the case for accountability systems that have incentives and sanctions ("mean") as well as provide increased resources in the way of professional development, training, and support ("nice"). Both articles are worth reading, though only Jerald's is online.
"The Challenges of Accountability," Educational Leadership, November 2003, vol. 61, no. 3