National Push for Accountability in Schools

National Push for Accountability in Schools

February 24 , 2007

National push for accountability in schools

The pace of change dictates that schools should provide high quality learning standards to students . It requires that the school system should improve their learning approaches to enhance academic achievements of students . In this connection policymakers at the federal , state , and local levels have worked to increase accountability of the school system on the premise that the same plays a vital role in improving learning standards of students and society as well . This then pave

the way to the recognition of evaluation of school performance to improve standards of learning and achievements of students

The system of accountability requires schools to define what students should know and be able to do and to measure progress and gaps in students ' achievement . It facilitates the attainment of the desired education standards anchored on quality content and high learning standards . Developing appropriate content and student achievement standards are accordingly important part of showing policymakers and the public a return on their educational investment . However , accountability of schools for students learning and achievement is impossible without a clear , focused road map on the achievement standards and what and how well students are to learn from kindergarten through graduation . Many states have developed content and achievement standards without involving stakeholders and teachers . They also have not considered how their standards are to be implemented , measured and tied to accountability . Developing content and student achievement standards without considerable contribution and input from a variety of sources is fatal as there is no sense of ownership as well as responsibility from the stakeholders and agencies not represented . The standards set are then viewed as bias and one-sided thereby defeating its purpose and rendering weak implementation of the system

Accountability system utilizes results from standardized tests to evaluate performance of students and schools , and provide sanctions rewards or interventions for schools , educators or students . This system involves consistent monitoring and evaluation of the students ' and schools ' performance that it requires active participation of the educators , parents , stakeholders , and policy makers . The ripple effect of the system requires that these concerned people and stakeholders should be consistently committed to the purpose , implementation , and evaluation in to keep track of students and schools ' performance and eventually facilitate desired continuous improvement of schools performance standards . According to Kate Nolan (2002 , it is not enough to believe that all children can learn . All elements of the system must be held accountable for the success of all children . The effect of the accountability system in school is all encompassing that Kate Nolan further noted that , the improvement in school performance requires improvement in all stakeholders ' performance . Thus change in the system should not be an isolated case for the school sector but also on the part of the stakeholders as accountability requires their active participation and commitment for the system to work

It is noted that the accountability system is designed to be a tool for instituting...