Larry Lashway
Published: 2001
Total Pages: 0
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Educational standards and accountability are at the center of an ongoing national debate on school reform that began almost 20 years ago. This debate has raised fundamental questions about school effectiveness and the strategies educators should use to boost student learning. This book provides a closer look at these questions and seeks to answer them using what is known about human motivation. Chapter 1 creates a context for accountability by categorizing it into five variants that are analyzed: political, legal, bureaucratic, professional, and market accountability. Educational standards, assessment, result reporting, consequences, and teacher development are also discussed critically. Discussion on management of accountability is broken down into four subtopics: from whom, to whom, how, and for how long? Chapter 2 explores psychological assumptions behind the new accountability systems using motivational theory as the theoretical basis. Chapter 3 describes how publicly communicated state and local standards can create a clearly understood set of expectations for learning. Chapter 4 discusses the appropriate use of assessment in the accountability system. Chapter 5 discusses the role of incentives and consequences in motivating teachers, students, and parents. Chapter 6 provides recommendations for developing a system of reporting results to the public. Chapter 7 explains how professional development can support and enhance the accountability process. (Contains 14 pages of references.) (RT)