Education Reform and Teacher Accountability in the Obama Era
Open AccessMuch of the current heated debate about how to reform the American education system occurs in a historical and policy vacuum. This thesis places the controversy in its wider context by explaining the former status quo, the origins of the accountability movement, and how "teacher accountability" came to dominate this country's education reform discussion. It explains how a perfect storm of factors - an economic crisis and strained school budgets; the growth of new and powerful advocacy organizations to counter the traditional education interest groups; and the election of a reform-minded Democratic President - gave the reform movement historic momentum that resulted in sweeping change across the country. The thesis then documents the inevitable backlash against this change and the resulting policy paralysis demonstrated by the failure of the 112th Congress to pass a long overdue reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The paper concludes that, although the reformers have identified real problems in how schools evaluate and pay teachers, their solutions are unlikely to be enough to achieve significant improvements in student outcomes. It argues for a broader and more pragmatic debate over how to improve the nation's schools.
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