Accountability, Standardized Testing, and Student Learning

Student-Centered Accountability in Education

Effective educational practice, in terms of accountability, means instilling in students—or further developing, if already present—the desire to learn. Accountability should not mean that a student is accountable to the teacher in order to pass a test or earn good marks. Rather, accountability should be something students hold over themselves. It can be measured by the desire to learn, the willingness to complete exercises, do homework, and work through problems to overcome them. By urging students to hold themselves accountable, teachers can reinforce the idea that school is not about passing tests but about acquiring the skills to embrace lifelong learning.

One way to accomplish this is to have students identify goals at the beginning of the year and hold themselves to those goals, measuring their improvement throughout the year to see how they are progressing and what they can do to improve in order to reach those goals. As Knight (2008) observes, "there is a direct relationship between people's basic beliefs and how they view such educational components as the nature of the student, the role of the teacher, the best curricular emphasis" (p. 41). If students are able to see how this relationship works and understand their own role in it, they will tend to be more active in their pursuit of the goal, rather than passive instruments expecting the teacher or curriculum to move them without any effort, will, or desire on their part. The point is to move students to "own" their educational experience and make it work for them.