I Don’t Like “Accountability”
In my opinion, many unwise actions are taking place in the name of accountability. I’d like to highlight three recent ones:
Educators are now being told in Memphis and in other areas that student evaluations of them and their classes will be included as part of the teacher evaluation process.
Videotaping is being used by the Gates Foundation on thousands of teachers to connect which practices lead to higher test scores, and some are calling for constant video monitoring in the classroom.
Several state legislators and other officials want to start grading and punishing parents who don’t come to parent/teacher conferences and other school events.
I’m not a fan of the word “accountability” when it is related to schools. It comes from the Latin roots meaning “calculate,” and it reinforces the view that everything that happens in schools is countable. I prefer the word some
