New Paradigm for Educational Accountability Series

After more than a decade of narrowly defined education accountability, how schools across the country prepare all children for success in college, career, and life is up for debate. A new series on educational accountability, launching today, aims to shed light on how schools, districts, and communities across the nation are charting new paths to student- and learning-focused accountability and how these new approaches are making a difference in improving education.

The series, A New Paradigm for Educational Accountability, is published by Education Policy Analysis Archive (EPAA), edited by Gustavo Fischman with guest editors Linda Darling-Hammond and Jon Snyder. The series features more than two dozen articles, commentaries, and videos by business leaders, policymakers, state and district administrators, educators, researchers, students, and leaders of civil rights organizations (see list of contributors, below).
 
The series is based on a framework developed in the 2014 paper, Accountability for College and Career Readiness: Developing a New Paradigm. In this paper, authors Darling-Hammond, Gene Wilhoit, and Linda Pittenger outline the critical policy points that can set the foundation for an effective and comprehensive system of accountability to address America’s widening opportunity gap in education. The systemic approach, they argue, should rest on three pillars—meaningful learning, adequate resources, and professional capacity. The EPAA series goes deeply into aspects of each of these pillars from a wide range of perspectives. It will be released in three editions, each focusing on one of the pillars.
 
“For schools to truly prepare all children for college and career, the definition of 'accountability' must be radically expanded. High-stakes consequences for schools, staff, and students based on yearly state tests will never create the kinds of powerful education systems we need to close the opportunity gap in the United States and to give every child a chance to reach their potential,” said Darling-Hammond, who is Stanford University Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education and Faculty Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE). "An effective accountability system will offer a rich and well-taught curriculum to all students, raising expectations not only for individual schools but for the functioning of the system as a whole."
 
“As the country tackles the challenges of redefining accountability, we want to examine what’s possible from the point of view of those who are making effective changes, those who are closely following the results, and those who are impacted,” said Fischman, who is a professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, and Lead Editor of EPAA. “This series aims to do this by offering a wide spectrum of voices in the field, sharing insights through research, articles, commentary, and video.”

"We've recruited a wide range of the country's leading thinkers, practitioners, and policymakers to weigh in on what a system of new accountability can and does look like," said Snyder, who is executive director of SCOPE. "This diverse range of opinions and formats — from commentaries to video to research reports — lays the groundwork for the kind of system that America needs to ensure that all students graduate well prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century global economy."
 
Below is a list of the articles and videos for this first issue; videos are drawn from a SCOPE conference held in June 2014, Rethinking Accountability, Putting Students and Learning First.
 
The full series will be archived at both EPAA and SCOPE.

Meaningful Learning Articles

• “A New Era for Educational Assessment,” by David T. Conley, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Strategy Officer of the Educational Policy Improvement Center >> Download PDF
• “Assessment and Accountability to Support Meaningful Learning,” by Scott Marion, Vice-President of the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment & Paul Leather, Deputy Commissioner of Education for the New Hampshire Department of Education >> Download PDF
• “Accountability Is More Than a Test Score,” by Stephan Turnipseed, President Emeritus of LEGO Education and Chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills & Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education and Faculty Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education >> Download PDF
• “Superintendents’ Recommendations for a New Federal Framework for Educational Accountability,” by S. Dallas Dance, Superintendent, Baltimore County Public Schools >> Download PDF

MEANINGFUL LEARNING VIDEOS

• Stephan Turnipseed: “Meaningful Learning Is Good Business" >> View
• Gemma Venuti: "A Student’s View on Standardized Testing" >> View & “Meaningful Learning through Performance Assessment" >> View
• S. Dallas Dance: "Success Happens at the Local Level: District Strategies for Accountability" >> View

PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ARTICLES 

• “Professional Capacity and Accountability: An Introduction,” by Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education and Faculty Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, & Jon Snyder, Executive Director, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education >> Download PDF 
• “Professional Capital as Accountability,” by Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto; Santiago Rincón-Gallardo, Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; & Andrew Hargreaves, Brennan Chair at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College  >> Download PDF 
• “Professional Accountability for Improving Life, College, and Career Readiness,” by Jon Snyder, Executive Director, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, & Travis J. Bristol, Research and Policy Fellow at the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education >> Download PDF 
• “A Coherent System of Teacher Evaluation for Quality Teaching,” by Accomplished California Teachers, a team of California-based teacher leaders who were part of the Accomplished California Teacher (ACT) network operating under the auspices of the National Board Resource Center at Stanford University >> Download PDF 

PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY Videos

• Marc Tucker: "Equity and High Quality Can Not Be Achieved in our Current Accountability System"  >> View
• Randi Weingarten: "Creating Capacity for an Effective Accountability System" >>View
• Lily Eskelsen García: "High Quality Preparation & Supports for Teachers" >>View
• Michael Cohen: "Indicators of Success in A New Accountability System" >>View
• Becky Pittard: "Investing in Teacher Professionalism Creates Excellent Teachers" >>View 
• Richard Carranza: "Creating District Capacity to Close the Achievement Gap" >>View 

Resource Accountability Articles 

• "Resource Accountability: Enforcing State Responsibilities for Sufficient and Equitable Resources Used Effectively to Provide All Students a Quality Education" by David G. Sciarra, Executive Director, Education Law Center, & Molly A. Hunter, Director of Education Justice, Education Law Center >> Download PDF
• "California’s First Year With Local Control Finance and Accountability" by David Menefee-Libey, Professor of Politics, Pomona College, & Charles Taylor Kerchner, Research Professor, School of Educational Studies, Claremont Graduate University >> Download PDF
• "New Accountability In California Through Local Control Funding Reforms: The Promise and the Gaps" by John T. Affeldt, Managing Attorney, Public Advocates Inc. >> Download PDF
• "Fifty Years Later: A Chance to Get ESEA Back on Track" by Joseph Bishop & John H. Jackson of the Schott Foundation for Public Education >> Download PDF

RESOURCE ACCOUNTABILITY VIDEOS 

• Zakiyah Ansari: "Effective Accountability Requires Community Inputs" >> View
• John H. Jackson: "Standards Without Supports Are Meaningless"  >> View
• Senator Jack Reed: "Resources Matter" >> View
• Leticia Smith-Evans: "Disparities in Student Achievement Reflect Disparities in Resources" >> View
• Michael Rebell: "Resource Accountability – For the Long Term"  >> View

Series Authors

John Affeldt, Managing Attorney, Public Advocates Inc.
Joseph Bishop, Director of Policy of the National Opportunity to Learn Campaign, Schott Foundation for Public Education
Travis Bristol, Research and Policy Fellow
David T. Conley, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Strategy Officer of the Educational Policy Improvement Center 
S. Dallas Dance, Superintendent, Baltimore County Public Schools
Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
Molly Hunter, Director of Education Justice, Education Law Center
John H. Jackson, President and CEO, Schott Foundation for Public Education
Chuck Kerchner, Research Professor, School of Educational Studies, Claremont Graduate University
Paul Leather, Deputy Commissioner of Education for the New Hampshire Department of Education
David Menefee-Libey, Professor of Politics, Pomona College  
Scott Marion, Vice-President of the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment
David Sciarra, Executive Director, Education Law Center
Jon Snyder, Executive Director, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education
Stephan Turnipseed, President Emeritus of LEGO Education and Chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Featured Video Speakers

Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director, New York State Alliance for Quality Education
Richard Carranza, Superintendent, San Francisco Unified School District
Michael Cohen, President, Achieve
S. Dallas Dance, Superintendent, Baltimore County Public Schools
Lily Eskelsen García, President, National Education Association
John Jackson, President and CEO, Schott Foundation for Public Education
Becky Pittard, Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Math Teacher, Pine Trail Elementary, Ormond Beach, FL
Michael Rebell, Professor of Law and Educational Practice, Teachers College, Columbia University
Jack Reed, Senator, U.S. Senate (RI)
Leticia Smith-Evans, Interim Director, Education Practice at NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund
Marc Tucker, President & CEO, National Center on Education and the Economy
Stephan Turnipseed, President Emeritus of LEGO Education and Chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills
Gemma Venuti, Graduate of Urban Academy Laboratory High School
Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers