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Session Title: The Use of Evaluation for Accountability: An International Perspective
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Panel Session 726 to be held in La Jolla on Friday, Nov 4, 2:50 PM to 4:20 PM
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Sponsored by the Pre-K - 12 Educational Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| David Nevo, Tel Aviv University, dnevo@post.tau.ac.il
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| Discussant(s):
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| David Nevo, Tel Aviv University, dnevo@post.tau.ac.il
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| Abstract:
Accountability is a major use of evaluation in the domain of education in many countries and educational systems around the world (e.g. NCLB in the USA or OFSTED in the UK) Accountability is widely used as a basis for educational reforms intended to improve education in spite of its being highly criticized for its usefulness and side-effects in its attempts to improve educational systems. The purpose of this panel is to share research findings and insights from five educational systems (USA, British Columbia, England, Chile and Israel) regarding the intended and unintended consequences of accountability.
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Evaluation to Improve Educational Accountability
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| Katherine Ryan, University of Illinois, k-ryan6@uiuc.edu
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The goal of all educational evaluation is to enable programs and policies to improve student learning. At the same time, notions of educational accountability, control, and improvement are often entangled with evaluation. NCLB reauthorization has created the conditions required to address current U.S. educational accountability criticisms (e.g., lack of information about how to improve teaching and learning) and accumulating evidence about NCLB's unintended consequences. This paper reports findings from a three year mixed-methods (survey questionnaire and focus groups) evaluation examining state-level NCLB educational accountability consequences from teacher and principal perspectives. In addition to corroborating well-known unintended consequences, other findings (e. g., changing teacher views about cognition and student 'types') are presented. Based on these findings and other research, I propose an extended educational accountability model that incorporates school-based evaluation can better support instructional practices and school improvement efforts.
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The Conflation of Educational Accountability and Educational Evaluation in British Columbia: The Impact of Neo-liberalism
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| Sandra Mathison, University of British Columbia, sandra.mathison@ubc.ca
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In British Columbia, Canada the Ministry of Education has created an "accountability framework," which ostensibly provides the means for improving student achievement and is primarily built on results from a variety of provincially mandated tests. The neo-liberalism of the provincial government builds a rhetoric of educational evaluation and improvement that diverts attention from its sole interest in educational accountability. Educational policies, driven by economic goals, see children as either a means to or obstacles to economic prosperity and the concomitant dismantling of the welfare state. While there are efforts to resist the emphasis on accountability over evaluation, neo-liberalism presents a staunch challenge for educational evaluators and evaluation.
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Intended and Unintended Consequences of a High-stakes National Teacher Evaluation Program
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| Sndy Taut, Universidad Catolica de Chile, staut@uc.cl
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We investigated the consequences of the Chilean standardized, standards-based, high-stakes teacher evaluation program (SEDD), used to hold accountable all public school teachers of the country. We first explicated the underlying stakeholder theory, identifying intended effects and uses of this accountability policy for teachers, schools, and municipalities. Then we empirically examined both intended and unintended consequences. We analyzed large-scale databases and conducted numerous interviews. Our findings indicate that SEDD had mixed effects on teachers and more favorable effects on schools and municipalities. The associated professional development and incentives programs need to complement the accountability purpose with a more effective support function.
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Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency: An Israeli Confusion
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| David Nevo, Tel Aviv University, dnevo@post.tau.ac.il
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In this presentation the use of accountability to reform the Israeli educational system in recent years will be discussed pointing out its bureaucratic power and public viability based on confusion between accountability, responsibility and transparency. Discussing the meaning of these three concepts, it will be contended that a lack of distinction between the three enables the acceptance of accountability at face value as a useful means for the improvement of education. Conceptual and practical implications will be suggested regarding the meaning of accountability and its usefulness.
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'Ahead of the Game': The Case for Professional Accountability Through Evaluation
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| Helen Simons, University of South Hampton, h.simons@soton.ac.uk
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Accountability is so often seen as an external process generated from outside an institution or system to call people to account for what they do. This has always seemed to me slightly odd especially in professional fields where autonomy is valued. The corollary of such a stance is a corresponding responsibility to account. The problem is that some professions have not been 'up to the mark' or 'ahead of the game' in proposing their own educational evaluation systems that would demonstrate their accountability and lessen the need for external accountability in ways that do not match the reality of professional practice. With reference to various attempts in England to get schools to account, this presentation will explore what a professional accountability evaluation system might look like and argue that in the long term it will ensure standards of education and professional practice more effectively than external accountability systems.
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