'National Push for Accountability in Schools\r'

'The pace of change dictates that give lessonss should put forward high quality accomplishment standards to students. It requires that the crop scheme should correct their hornswoggleing commencees to recruit academic deeds of students. In this connection policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels have worked to increase duty of the cultivate scheme on the inclose that the alike(p) plays a vital purport in improving discipline standards of students and smart set as well. This then pave the panache to the recognition of rating of schooling doing to improve standards of learning and achievements of students.The dodging of function requires schools to define what students should know and be equal to(p) to do and to measure progress and gaps in students’ achievement. It facilitates the attainment of the desired precept standards anchored on quality issue and high learning standards. Developing appropriate content and student achievement standar ds ar accordingly of the essence(predicate) part of showing policymakers and the public a return on their educational investment. However, function of schools for students learning and achievement is impossible without a clear, focused road map on the achievement standards and what and how well students are to learn from kindergarten through graduation.Many states have developed content and achievement standards without involving stakeholders and teachers. They also have not considered how their standards are to be implemented, measured and level(p) to function. Developing content and student achievement standards without considerable contribution and input from a variety of sources is fatal as in that respect is no sense of ownership as well as responsibility from the stakeholders and agencies not represented. The standards set are then viewed as bias and one-sided thereby defeating its purpose and rendering weak carrying into action of the formation.Accountability system ut ilizes results from standardized tests to evaluate functioning of students and schools, and hand over sanctions, rewards or interventions for schools, educators or students. This system involves consistent monitoring and evaluation of the students’ and schools’ performance that it requires diligent participation of the educators, parents, stakeholders, and policy makers. The ripple military unit of the system requires that these concerned people and stakeholders should be consistently committed to the purpose, implementation, and evaluation in order to keep track of students and schools’ performance and eventu aloney facilitate desired straight progress of schools’ performance standards.According to Kate Nolan (2002), â€Å"it is not luxuriant to believe that in all children can learn. completely elements of the system essential be held responsible for the success of all children”.  The effect of the answerableness system in school i s all encompassing that Kate Nolan further mention that, â€Å"the development in school performance requires advancement in all stakeholders’ performance”. thereof change in the system should not be an isolated case for the school sector but also on the part of the stakeholders as righteousness requires their ready participation and commitment for the system to work.It is remark that the accountability system is designed to be a tool for instituting changes in schools that would positively gather the students, parents, community and the country in general. This system provides opportunities and avenues for joint effort of all people and agencies concerned to raise the standards of the education system thereby improving school performance and learning of the students. The intention of the computer program is indeed noble and reflects an effort to shoot education system to respond to the card-playing changing demands of the learning community, yet a lot of a reas need sodding(a) regard and re-evaluation.According to Chuch Poochigian, â€Å"the education system reforms undertaken in the early(prenominal) years have greatly enhance the ability of the parents to monitor the performance of their children as well as of the school where they are enrolled, however, the only way that the drive for accountability in education will be truly successful is if parents utilize the wise tools offered to them to ensure that their children receive quality education.” This command should give one an idea that accountability should not be expressage to the school sector only.According to Douglas B. Reeves (2002), â€Å"accountability must be viewed in a different way. It must consider and address the issues in congruence of the objectives and the strategies, specificity, relevance, respect for diversity, continuous improvement, and focus on achievement, not norms.” Accountability system is highly complex and involves a range of merged issues and design as well as technical issues on the implementation and evaluation aspect that needs further thorough study and reconsideration.Also it must be noted that no matter how enlightened or elegant the assessment devices, if the focus is limited to gathering and reporting data quite an than skillful use of those data for learning and achievement enhancement of students, little improvement to school performance will result. Thus, the beat way to know whether an accountability system is working is to see whether the school system it accounts for is moving from where it was to where it wants to be. From its first implementation, an accountability system requires not only internal implementation but also external monitoring.Indeed the subject area push for accountability dignifies the need to improve standards of school performance and would greatly benefit the students but the approach is insufficient and has unwanted side effects. Schools do not per se reject accountabil ity as the same is an intrinsic responsibility, but an authentic approach to accountability must be formulated. A new set of principles must be created to guide the reconstruction of accountability systems to better meet the needs of education and students, and to ward off the dangers often associated with current accountability systems. Further, coaction and supportive effort of the school, stakeholders and policymakers must be promoted.Reference ListNolan, K. (2002). Excerpts from using accountability to build healthy schools. instructionCommission of States. Retrieved February 20, 2007 from http://www.ecs.orgPoochigian, C. School accountability reforms. Retrieved February 23, 2007 fromhttp://www.reasons.org/pb34.pdf.Reeves, D. (2002). Accountability based-reforms should overstep to a better teaching andlearning-period. Harvard Education System. Retrieved February 20, 2007 fromhttp://www.edletter.org/past/issues2002-ma/reeves.shtml.\r\n'