1. Education Accountability
and Authority
Chapter 5
Lisa Smith
Sophia Kypreos
Amy Sarkesian
Chapman University College
EDUU 607

2. Education Accountability
and Authority
“Accountability is a loaded term within the school
improvement and reform movements of several
countries, including the US. Efforts to introduce
educational standards, to enact school choice, and to
require more rigorous forms of teacher preparation
are attributable largely to the popular impression that
teachers and schools should become more
answerable to their publics.” -p.167

3. Introduction
• Education reform, in the eye of the public, holds
heavy weight on teacher and school accountability
• A variety of complex social factors that affect
accountability are often overlooked by the public
• Public scrutiny due to search for accountability of
public schools and teachers may have negative
affects on the education system
• A major challenge to the increasingly public
awareness to teacher and school accountability is
the doing so in a way that crosses the line into a
teacher’s authority

4. Accountability and Authority
• Society members expect teachers, being public
figures, to accept and expect public scrutiny that
comes with accountability
• Accountability, which is open to the public and
politicized, often portrays teachers’ involvement in
the debate as “defensive and self-serving” rather
than driven by pedagogy and student needs
• Educators participating in public discourse may point
out to the public that education depends and relies
on many parties- not the teachers alone
– This is not to be perceived as an unwillingness to
accept roles and responsibilities of teachers

5. Accountability Hazards
in Education Reform
Based on the assumption that accountability is a “principle which serves a
purpose”, the following hazards have been associated with accountability
being used as a tool for education reform:
• Accountability becomes instrumentalized and causes teachers’ performance
and work to be further judged and observed
• Accountability as a reflection of performance on routine assessment allows
for schools, teachers, and education to be evaluated and judged by entities
outside of the schools themselves, thus viewed as “something done to the
schools and teachers” rather than “done by the teachers in any meaningful
way” p.168
• Accountability in education should extend to all members of society as a
social norm and shouldn’t be viewed as a simple view of practice

6. Philosophical Insights on
Accountability
What teachers do…
• Teacher effectiveness is dependent on decisiveness
and a sense of purpose and certainty
• Teachers’ purpose is to convey knowledge to their
students
• Teachers who are successful are aware of student
strengths and search for opportunities that arise in
daily instruction, and recognize and are prepared to
respond to problems and challenges in the
classroom
• Teachers’ talents entail a broad range of skills within
multiple domains
KEY: The above responsibilities are not aligned with
societal expectations of teachers

7. Determinate vs. Indeterminate
Tasks
Determinate Indeterminate
• Easily measured • Not easily measured
• Focus of most educational • Measure competencies that
reform and can result in are not easily defined and
paradoxical results include teachers’
• Negative results include the expectations to nurture
focus on tasks that are easy students beyond curriculum
to validate, compare, and standards
interpret- don’t include • Not comparable to
indeterminate tasks/duties determinate measures

8. Accountability and Democracy
Education is under the watch of the citizens of society and
benefits from a widespread participation- including
teachers, parents, and society members. The shared
responsibility allows for teachers’ performance to be under
public scrutiny not often found in other professions.
Education, under democratic principles, is a right and a
responsibility which is overlooked by the government.
Teachers’ role is to exercise their professional judgment in
implementing curriculum and meeting needs of students.
Accountability, from a democratic standpoint, allows for society
members to take part in the education system.

9. Accountability and Democracy:
Public Involvement
Seven forms of stakeholder accountability:
2. Political
3. Professional
4. Financial
5. Managerial
6. Contractual
7. Legal
8. Personal

10. Accountability as Instrumentalized
Education Reform:
England’s Education Reform Act
The ERA of 1988 enacted four sets of changes in
England’s educational system:
• A restructuring of school governance roles and duties
• A call for parental choice in determining their
children’s schools
• The adoption of a national curriculum
• The establishment of national student assessment
guidelines

11. Restructuring Prior to ERA
• UK being the first industrial power whose history lies in
commerce and empire
• In 1970’s, the global oil crisis led to insufficient funding in
British public schools
• Liberals hoped to achieve a more egalitarian state rather
than the elitist past
• Due to low reading and writing standards, the
Conservatives and media placed blame on teachers and
held them responsible for the moral and economic decline
of the nation
The above historical ideologies, social factors, and state of
economy led to the need for a restructuring plan and reform
in education

12. Applying a Critical Framework to Understand
Educational Restructuring in England –
Two Germanies:
Historical Ideological Perspectives;
Pages 178-191

13. Tools as the Critical Evaluation of
Educational Reform
• Theoretical adequacy
• Policy effectiveness
• Empirical validity

14. Theoretical Adequacy of the ERA
• Results of the ERA were more political than
pedagogical
• Reform was to reverse England’s economic decline,
maximize human resource, and stimulate social
progress
• Based on theoretical foundation of human capital
formation
• Assumption that national economic improvement is
connected with education improvement

15. Two guiding assertions of the ERA
• Accountability
– Clearer management roles
– Administration of prescribed curriculum
– Regular assessments
– Holds educators and educational leaders responsible
• Parental choice and localized control
– Parents allowed to choose schools
– School funding tied to enrollment
– Schools must raise standard to attract students
– Faced school closure with inadequate enrollment
– Reduced teacher autonomy by increasing interest in
parent preferences and aligning instructional practice
accordingly

16. Broad ERA Goals
• Address lack of standards
– Government adopted a highly detailed national
curriculum
– Expectations that schools will “bring 80 to 90 percent of
all pupils at least to the level of pupils of average ability
in individual subjects”
• Make available the educational rigor long available to the
English elite extended to society
– Potential to promote greater homogeneity in schools
throughout the system
– Policy reinforced differences from school to school
rather than a standard educational experience

17. Flaws of the ERA
• Proponents philosophy is the policy would help empower the parents
of British schoolchildren, however, ERA’s move to curricular standards
and assessments allowed little parent input
• Funding latitude to certain schools but not to others
– Educational variation within the school system
• Freedom of parent choice is illusionary
– Parents were free to chose which school to teach the centralized
curriculum
• Relationship of the reform’s measures to its promised outcome
– Meaningful factor for assessing accomplishment is the equitability
of educational financing and distribution
– England’s reformed schools are potentially elitists
• Diagnoses of the educational system’s problems received little
attention
• Failed to directly attack underlying causes of ineffective schooling

18. Theoretical Adequacy Questions
(Teachers can apply these questions in thinking about plans for
change that they encounter in school)
• Is there a theoretical foundation for the proposed reform?
• What is the hypothesized relationship of the reform to its
stated outcome?
• Are the claims being made in favor of the reform
theoretically sound? Plausible?
• What other factors might theoretically account for the
observed outcomes?
• Is the reform program taking those factors into
consideration?

19. Policy Effectiveness of the ERA
• Appeal of choice school enlisted the support of the English citizenry for
changes
• Furthered the interests of the business and industry sectors
sympathetic to conservative ideologies
• Problem of serving the minority populations continued to grow
• Teachers objected to the national curriculum because of its emphasis
on factual learning and had little input in its development
• Major expenses in developing and implementing its standard
curriculum and national tests, and constant adjustments
– Similar to NCLB
• No teacher flexibility in curriculum
– Expected to adhere to instructional directives
– Impeded teachers from applying professional judgments;
accommodations, unexpected situations, and ability levels
• Popular schools were crowded
• Due to constant revisions, teachers had insufficient time and resources
to do their job properly

20. Policy Effectiveness Questions
(Teachers can apply these questions in thinking about plans for
change that they encounter in school)
• Is there support for this reform (e.g., public, governmental)?
• Will there be threatened interest groups that will attempt to
sabotage it?
• What are the resource allocation, teacher training, and cost
requirements of the reform?
• How long will it take to implement it, and is it enough time
being given to adequately assess it?

21. Empirical Validity of ERA
• Polls and survey results concluded that a relatively high level of
support existed among both parents and teachers just after the reform
was put into place
• Others refuted those claims using detailed anecdotal information
• Parents had mixed feelings about the new system
– Perception was the schools and curriculum were vulnerable to
political manipulation
– Parents identified themselves and consumers and schooling as a
product
• Little evidence existed on the validity the reform supplied what the
parents needed
• Research prior to the reform suggested that parents cared more about
student happiness, extra-curricular offerings, and school location than
instructional excellence
• Government ensured that parents would receive an annual report
identifying their school’s standing on a number of counts
– Did not address broader interests among the parents such as
general student contentment
• Early research showed that some empirical justification existed about
the system’s potential to provide equitable opportunity

22. Empirical Validity Questions
(Teachers can apply these questions in thinking about plans for
change that they encounter in school)
• Is there any empirical evidence regarding the reform?
• Is research available elsewhere regarding the successes of
similar programs?
• If research was conducted, how satisfactory was the
research design?
• What kind of claims and interpretations are being made of
the research findings?
• Are the research findings unequivocal or ambiguous? What
might account for these findings?

23. Conclusions Regarding ERA
• Similarities between Britain and the United States are
obvious
– Calls for educational change have been enthusiastic
and relentless
– Critics encouraging change identified educational
reform as a key to national economic progress,
especially to the forces of globalization
• Differences between Britain and the United States are
obvious
– England has enacted reform more quickly
– British model had limitations in terms of its potential to
demonstrate that choice and competition can drive
successful change
– The British plan was self-contradictory

24. Sociopolitical Factors Shaping
Education in England and Germany
• England • Germany
• Factor • Factor
– England has retained – Enormous war penalties
strong links to its on the Germans
aristocratic past contributed to a near loss
• Response of confidence on the
– Mid 19th century “public German economy
schools” were privately – Hyperinflation was so
endowed schools as a pronounced during the
charity for poorer early 1920s, a U.S. dollar
members of society was worth several trillion
– Wealthier members were marks
educated with tutors • Response
• Educational Implications – Adolf Hitler rose to power
• Growth of middle class and the • Educational Implications
Industrial Revolution brought a – Schools were one of
demand for a secondary school Hitler's’ most important
that might exclude the working mouthpiece for
class propaganda
• Public schools were reformed – Contemporary German
to provide an alternative to school system reflects
exclude the poor safeguards against
manipulation

25. Education and New Challenges in
Post-Reunification Germany
• No similar popular input or normal policy formulation
process existed
• Integration of the former German Democratic Republic
(GDR) into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)
resulted in the overturning of East Germany’s patterns of
social commitment
• East Germany was authoritarian in its control of education
• Directed the country’s teaching and learning with a level of
manipulation that matched the country’s economy

26. Two Germanies: Historical and
Ideological Perspectives
Germany was divided following
WWII as a result of ideological
differences among the Allies
– Soviet Union embraced
socialist beliefs
– Western Allies supported
capitalism

27. The Context of Reform: Schooling in
the Former GDR
• Three overarching functions of the country’s school system
• Guarantee society’s economic development
• Dismantle class structures and establish a classless society
• Ensure allegiance to the ideals of communist SED
(Socialist Unity Party) party and the active engagement of
East German citizens in securing the party’s objectives

28. Polytechnical Upper Schools
• Unified the tandem aims of academic and vocational education
• 10-year institutions
• Attended 6 to 16 years of age
• Emphasis on science and math
• Near universal mode of education for East German youths
• Embodied the principle of a classless society
• All students attended the polytechnical school together
• Aimed to produce well-rounded and versatile citizens and become
contributing members of the working class
– Polytechnical education was “not any special subject of
instruction”, but rather, was intended to “penetrate all
subjects,” linking them with practical activity, especially with
manual skills”
• In the Marxist conception, their contributions in the workforce
would create an “unprecedented expansion of productivity” that
would render class distinctions meaningless

29. Polytechnical Upper Schools
…continued
• Youth’s allegiance to communist ideals were pursued in a
number of ways
• A focus in civic class influence political values in students
• Membership in the Free German Youth organization was
necessary for East German youths to secure their
prospects for advancement
• Premilitary training was in the curriculum
• Teacher monitored student activities noting progress
toward outcomes that were ideologically favorably and
interceding sometime heavy-handedly when students
behaved unfavorably

30. The Prevailing System
FRG vs. GDR
(Federal Republic of Germany vs. German Democratic Republic)
• In the FDR, the cultural and societal changes that took
place were significant as far as education goes;
– Government officials recognized the central role that
education plays in shaping the country’s culture.
– Teachers were given great opportunities to teach, rather than
simply instruct; “this suggests a form of teacher expert
authority that contrasts sharply with the sometimes less
democratically sensitive and more coercive forms of authority
exercised by teachers in the former GDR.” p. 191
– Parents and students were free to choose the type of
educational path they wanted to go down, all of which adhered
to the principle of “equality and opportunity”

31. Three-Part Secondary School
(anti-egalitarian)
• Hauptschule – A shorter, less difficult way
towards completion of compulsory full-time
attendance school.
• Gymnasium – University-bound students only.
• Realschule – A middle group of students that
pursue various educational and career
options.
“The modern-day German system has historical and philosophical
underpinnings in the philosophy of new humanism, of which
Wilhelm von Humboldt was a leading exemplar.” p. 192

32. Eastern Reintegration
• FRG dominated in the unification process because the
government in East Germany was weak and contained no
political legitimacy.
• Time was also a big factor. Once negotiations were made
to unify, an average 2,000 people a day flocked through the
Australian frontier, causing the GDR to dissolve rapidly.
• Educators from the west had to adjust their teaching styles,
structures, institutional and instructional practices, and
curricular imperatives accordingly, in order to align with the
east.
• Focus was on practicality and knowledge application.
• The eastern residents became ambiguous and often tinged
with feelings of loss, due to the immense cultural
differences which were both political and ideological.

33. Wilhelm von Humboldt
(1767-1835)
•Great contributor to new Europe’s educational
system.
•Greatest accomplishment: Vision of the vital
university, which stressed academic freedom and
was incarnated with his founding of the University
of Berlin.
•Influenced and revolutionized the American
educational system.
•John Hopkins University establishment as
America’s first “pure” university.
•Harvard’s transformation from a liberal
arts college to university.
•He worked to ensure individual freedoms and to
instill responsibility, values, self-reliance.

34. Critiquing Educational Reforms of
German Reintegration
• Theoretical adequacy: The German Educational
Reform was theory driven in the conventional sense.
• Policy-effectiveness: Was very effective for shaping
the “individual” person, however in turn limited the
East Germans as to school choice and educational
practices.
• Empirical Validity: Not much empirical data since
East Germany was a closed society. However,
several case studies that have been conducted have
concluded that the policy of the reform has assumed
a “sink-or-swim” mentality in providing change. p.
197

35. Critiquing Educational Reforms of
German Reintegration…cont.
• After the reintegration, Russian teachers had to learn
ways to teach English to students, especially in the
secondary settings – this made it difficult to find
qualified teachers.
• The existing teachers and schools were unfamiliar
with the tasks associated with adapting to the
tracked, differentiated secondary structure.
• Teachers with current GDR credentials were not
granted the same qualifications under the FRG,
which caused a major problem in the credentialing
process.

36. Ethical Lessons Learned
English and German Reforms
• Is it ethical for the government to endorse a system that will
arguably produce and sustain lower-quality institutions side
by side with high-quality institutions, as seen in England’s
ERA?
• The ERA reforms were very unethical in unloading so much
work and responsibilities onto the teachers, which caused
deprofessionalizing effects.
• East German teachers had a hard time adjusting to the
reformations; they had a hard time accepting the fact that
the state can do anything to them, and they cannot do
anything to the kids, as they once could.

37. Sustaining Reflection
• Think of examples in your own country in which steps
are taken to ensure that all participants have the
same educational experience and treatment. Think of
examples of differentiated instruction. What are the
implications of these contrasting circumstances in
terms of teacher roles and accountability?
• List several determinate and indeterminate tasks you
have observed recently.
• A British office circulated a statement that read,
“parents know best the needs of their children –
certainly better than most educational theorists or
administrators, better even than our mostly excellent
teachers”. What can you conclude about the vision of
authority behind this statement?

38. • The End