Reclaiming Accountability in Teacher Education

Abstract

Teacher accountability has been a major strategy for "fixing" education for the last 2 decades. In this book, Cochran-Smith and her research team argue that it is time for teacher educators to reclaim accountability by adopting a new approach that features intelligent professional responsibility, challenges the structures and processes that reproduce inequity, and sustains multi-layered collaboration with diverse communities. The authors analyze and critique major accountability initiatives, including Department of Education regulations, CAEP accreditation procedures, NCTQ teacher preparation reviews, and edTPA, and expose the lack of evidence behind these policies, as well as the negative impact they are having on teacher education. However, the book does "not" conclude that accountability is the wrong direction for the next generation of teacher education. Instead, the authors offer a clear and achievable vision of accountability for teacher education based on a commitment to equity and democracy. The book: proposes a new approach to reclaim accountability: democratic accountability in teacher education; offers a historical overview of accountability in the era of education reform; embraces accountability and reconstructs its targets, purposes, and consequences in keeping with the larger democratic project; introduces an accessible framework for investigating dimensions of accountability policy and practice; and demonstrates four of the most visible education reform initiatives relevant to teacher educators and education stakeholders.