Examining Test Based Accountability

This opinion piece by Robert Slavin questions the effectiveness of how test-based accountability is currently been employed in the United States. Slavin doesn’t question the use of high stakes testing as a valuable tool for identification of poorly performing students and schools. What he objects to is the over use of this data for terminating teachers and principals and closing schools. This article highlights the continuing controversy within the field of education regarding this very contentious, but important issue. After reviewing the available research on accountability a good argument can be made that at best accountability is only having a minimal impact on the lives of children, (Yeh, 2007). Wouldn’t a wiser approach be to focus our limited resources on providing educators with the evidence-based practices we know can make a difference, or as Bruce Chorpita once said, “The way to get rid of bad teachers is to turn them into good teachers”?

Web Address: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-e-slavin/accountability-for-the-to_b_6307892.html