What does accountability mean to me?

To me, accountability is a daunting word that conjures up an image of a big thumb squashing the little guy. At least that is the way it had always seemed to me before I looked at the concept with a more professional and academic lens.

I think back to my physical education and health classes. We did not have a set of expectations such as mandated now in the Ontario Curriculum, but there were some common objectives to guide every teacher.  Although I did use these objectives in my planning, I went well beyond the objectives. I had developed some interesting material that was holistic in nature. We explored the mind, body and the spirit. The health text was the students’ life stories.  The classes were very popular and my high school had more students in the program than any other school in the area.

One day, the Inspectors visited. I was nervous.  I knew that I was in uncharted territory. By the end of the day they had determined that I was not following the Ministry curriculum. My principal came to deliver the bad news. He took me for a long walk around the corridors outside the gym. By the end of the walk, he told me that he believed in what I was doing and that to solve the problem I was to change the titles to what the Ministry wanted and to continue on doing exactly what I was doing.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I would be able to continue to do the work that I loved and that I thought was so valuable.  Now my administrator had confirmed that what I was doing was the right thing to do. The students seemed to confirm it was right in that they attended the classes in large number.  This was a turning point for me -  and the future directions that I would take.

Accountability? As I reflect on this story I realize that my sense of accountability was to myself and to my students.  But I was not aligned to a bigger picture. I had no sense of extrinsic accountability -  to my administrator, to my district or to my provincial system.  I walked my own path.  Is this good or bad? Who is to say that what I thought the students needed to learn was actually what they should learn?

In an age of accountability I believe there is a middle path.  My questions have always revolved around improving the education system. How do we make it better? What is most important to teach?  To me the answer is rarely embedded in the ways things are “supposed” to be done.  How do we push the boundaries at the same time as we keep them? Much of my own research has been in how to push and maintain the boundaries at the same time. (Drake, 2010; Drake & Reid, 2010).  Instead of an EITHER/OR, it can be a BOTH/AND.

As an academic, I believe in accountability. I understand the need for some standardized measures of where we stand as a province and how we compare internationally. I can also sympathize with individual teachers who are very unhappy with EQAO. Is there a way we can attain some measure of students’ achievement that does not involve the problems of EQAO? What does the middle path look like?

I like the “new” classroom methods of assessment (Black & Wiliam, 1998) Assessment Reform Group, 2002). I think students fare much better when expectations for performance are demystified. Well prepared rubrics help. Exemplars show us what is expected (as long as they don’t limit us).  Ongoing feedback is extremely useful. At the same time I have found that when I apply a “pedagogy of ambiguity”, students produce the best work although they are uncomfortable with the lack of clear expectations. What is the balance between the two?

What is accountability? And what does accountability mean to me as I strive to be a 21^st Century teacher?  These are the questions that I wrestle with as we move forward in our explorations.

References.

Assessment Reform Group. (2002). Assessment for learning: 10 principles. http:www.assessment-reform-group.org.uk

Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Rasing standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80. 2, 139-148.

Drake S. M. (2010). Enhancing teacher education using a story framework. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.   1, 2, http://www.cjsotl-rcacea.ca

Drake, S. M. & Reid, J. (2010). Integrated curriculum:  Increasing relevance while maintaining accountability.  What works? Research in Practice. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Integrated_Curriculum.pdf