The emotional violence of the accountability regime: part two
You may say to yourself, my god, what have I done?- Talking Heads
In the lead up to NCATE at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I was given the job of helping to figure out how the various assessments could be fitted to the structures of the web-based data management system we had purchased. As well, when it came time to teach students, teachers and faculty how to use the system, I was one of the people charged with this work. I was both horrified and compliant. More than compliant, I was good at the job.
In telling the story of the assault on education, it matters to tell the story of our compliance as much as the story of our resistance. It is in the story of our compliance that we understand the violence of the accountability and standards regime, from which we might access our outrage and our voices.
The violence that is at the center of the accountability and standards regime has many manifestations. We see it in the relentless testing that marks k12 schools in high poverty areas. Testing to prepare for testing. Testing that
In the lead up to NCATE at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I was given the job of helping to figure out how the various assessments could be fitted to the structures of the web-based data management system we had purchased. As well, when it came time to teach students, teachers and faculty how to use the system, I was one of the people charged with this work. I was both horrified and compliant. More than compliant, I was good at the job.
In telling the story of the assault on education, it matters to tell the story of our compliance as much as the story of our resistance. It is in the story of our compliance that we understand the violence of the accountability and standards regime, from which we might access our outrage and our voices.
The violence that is at the center of the accountability and standards regime has many manifestations. We see it in the relentless testing that marks k12 schools in high poverty areas. Testing to prepare for testing. Testing that
