Forms and practices of accountability in education

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability -     

Designing and validating an assessment inventory for online language teacher education accountability

Education and Information Technologies - Education accountability and its building components has been the focal point and yet a convoluted issue. The current study aims to give a comprehensive...     

The effects of accountability on higher education

This paper analyzes the effects of a higher education accountability system in Brazil. For each discipline, colleges were assigned a grade that depended on the scores of their students on the ENC, an annual mandatory exam. These grades were then disclosed to the public and colleges were rewarded or penalized based on them. I find that the ENC had a positive effect on the education and the proportion of full-time faculty and that it increased the number of vacancies offered, applicants and enrollments. Colleges were affected differently depending on grades, ownership and academic organization, changing the distribution of students among them.     

Co-constructors of data,co-constructors of meaning: Teacher professional development in an age of accountability

This research examines how engaging teachers in collaboratively constructing situated assessments enhances teacher professional development, fosters meaningful shifts to practice, and supports productive conceptions of accountability. We conducted case studies of six teachers engaged as partners in investigating new approaches to assessing and fostering literacy. Findings suggested that supporting teachers to generate, interpret, and act upon assessment data within instructional change cycles assisted them in monitoring student performance, grounding instructional decisions in data, and enacting changes to practice. We also document how collaboratively constructing assessments with teachers supported conceptions of accountability considered meaningful by individuals adopting differing socio-political perspectives.     

美国高等教育问责制度探究

问责制在过去的二三十年间成为诸多国家教育改革的热点,是政府部门及社会公众监督管理高等教育的重要手段和形式.美国高等教育通过采用履行问责制度来有效回应高等教育利益相关方的责任诉求,同时也顺应了高等教育自身生存与发展的内在需要.我国高等教育的发展过程中也不断出现各种问题,通过研究实施有效的美国高等教育问责制度,可以对我国高等教育的改革提供一些启示和建议.     

Thoughts on education for an age of synthesis

The predicaments which the industrial age of the twentieth century has left with us are briefly discussed, namely nature in peril, man in crisis and nation at risk. It is argued that these predicaments are brought upon us by the predominantly analytic thinking of the past century represented in the various forms of dichotomize such as mind and matter, man and nature, East and West, etc. It is, then, asserted that the twenty-first century should an age of synthesis, which the education for synthesis are specifically highlighted and discussed: the philosophy of the whole person, the building of sequentially broader self-identities, and strategies of conflict solution. Editor’s note Address presented at the First International Conference Editor’s note Address presented at the First International Conference Editor’s note Address presented at the First International Conference Editor’s note Address presented at the First International Conference Editor’s note Address presented at the First International Conference     

Effects and side effects of inspections and accountability in education: an overview of empirical studies

This paper presents an overview of studies into effects and side effects of control mechanisms in education. We focus on effects and side effects of inspection visits and public performance indicators. A first conclusion is that the studies do not provide us with a clear answer to the question of whether inspections have positive causal effects on the quality of schools. Results of studies of publications on public performance indicators are more unambiguous. They lead us to the conclusion that although principals and teachers believe performance indicators are important, parents and pupils take very little notice of these indicators when choosing schools. A third conclusion concerns the occurrence of side effects of school inspections and other control mechanisms in education. Several of the studies discussed clearly refer to the existence of these side effects, such as ‘window dressing’ and other types of ‘gaming’.     

Constructivist mathematics education for students with mild mental retardation

This study examined the effects of a constructivist mathematics intervention for students with mild mental retardation, as compared to direct instruction, which is often recommended for these children. A total of 69 students from elementary schools for special education participated in the study, which focused on multiplication learning. They received one of two kinds of mathematics intervention, guided or directed instruction. Multiplication automaticity and ability tests were administered before and after the four-month training period. The results show that students in both conditions improved significantly during the training period. However, students who received directed instruction showed greater improvement than students who had received guided instruction. These results show that students with MMR can profit from constructivist instruction, although direct instruction seems more effective.     

Community education as citizen organising for democratic accountability

This article focuses on the role of adult education in community development initiatives that intentionally aim at more general and equitable power-sharing arrangements at local and regional levels. It argues that community-based learning is a necessary component of community development and the rejuvenation of democracy. In the new millennium, citizens participating in civil society need the vehicle of a city-wide broad-based organisation to act for the attainment of these goals. Adult education in North America was founded on citizen action—often around migrant issues: adequate shelter, jobs, English language acquisition, poverty, and urbanisation. Responses to common needs in the Mechanics Institutes, Citizens' Forums, and the Antigonish Movement are only a few examples of how citizen learning changed lifeworld conditions. In this unsettled and unsettling historical moment, as we move from late modernity or post-modernity to some version of a “new world order”, the potential contributions of critical adult education to the future well-being of a global civil society are becoming increasingly apparent. Identifying and assessing means of resistance to the escalating encroachments of international finance and administrative power into the domains of individual and community autonomy is one practical role for adult education.