"Accountability must entail broadly shared responsibility to achieve the positive effects expected to contribute to improved education," the president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) today told members attending AERA's 84th Annual Meeting in Chicago. Such responsibility also must be widely shared to avoid unintended negative effects of new accountability requirements.
Robert L. Linn, AERA president, says that shared responsibility was broadly conceived to include students, teachers, school administrators, parents, and policy-makers. "Students and teachers have a responsibility to put forth a reasonable level of effort, while administrators and policy-makers must provide the instructional resources and professional development for teachers and students to meet the expectations of the accountability system."
Education researchers share responsibility for accountability, too. "We have a responsibility to provide solid information about the strengths and weaknesses of alternative approaches and interventions, one of which is the accountability system itself," Professor Linn adds.
What counts? Who is held accountable? asks Linn, who also serves as professor of education at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "No Child Left Behind legislation has much that is worthy of praise, including its emphasis on all children and the encouragement given to states to adopt ambitious subject-matter standards," he notes.
"But accountability systems need to broaden their definitions of what counts as evidence of success. Although ambitious goals are desirable, they should also be realistically grounded in past experience," AERA's president notes. The questionable aspects of the accountability system are those that lead to a narrowing of the instructional focus of teachers and principals.
According to President Linn, "NCLB's emphasis on achievement for all students and special attention given to groups of students who have had the lowest achievement in the past are especially worthy of praise. The high aspirations are also praiseworthy. But the goals the NCLB sets for student achievement would be wonderful if they could be reached. " He expresses the hope that the response to NCLB will point the way to modifications of the law and, more importantly, contribute to improved educational quality for all students.
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) represents approximately 20,000 educators who conduct research and evaluation in education, and approximately 12,000 are attending the Annual Meeting, April 21 to 25. Founded in 1916 and based in Washington, D.C., AERA offers a comprehensive program of scholarly publications, training, fellowships and meetings to advance educational research, disseminate knowledge, and improve the capacity of the profession for the public's good.
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