The search for a new order : a historical evaluation of community-based accountability in Texas public education.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to advance understanding of the perceptions of educational leaders promoting community-based accountability systems in Texas. Specifically, this study analyzed the educational intents of state-wide leaders championing community-based accountability systems via the Texas Public Accountability Consortium, a professional transformation network sponsored by the Texas Association of School Administrators. This study evaluated how these relatively new professional transformation networks had come to be positioned within the broader sociopolitical and sociohistorical backdrop of high-stakes assessment and accountability in Texas public schools. This study addressed the following questions: a) What was the sociopolitical and sociohistorical context in which community-based accountability systems emerged? b) How did the educational leaders promoting community-based accountability systems define their preferred state of assessment and accountability within this context? c) What were the perceived benefits of the community-based accountability systems movement within this context? A qualitative approach was used in this study to evaluate Texas Public Accountability Consortium and its community-based accountability systems movement. This study conducted member interviews and qualitative reviews of written materials produced by the Texas Association of School Administrators, the Texas Public Accountability Consortium, and its site-based stakeholders. The qualitative analysis yielded eight overarching themes, all of which helped the researcher position the community-based accountability systems movement against the backdrop of the longer history of a test-centric, industrial-bureaucratic approach to K–12 education.