6: From Accountability to Responsibility

In 1983, the publishing of A Nation at Risk drew connections between the economic calamities of the 1970s and the perception of a failing public education system (Fowler, 2013)—public education was one of the main factors that was “held accountable” for the economic downturn. The court of public opinion saw educators as the problem, rather than as experts. Politicians felt pressured to “fix the problem.” Various reform efforts came and went, but none with more impact than the federal government’s 2001’s No Child Left Behind Act, which was passed in 2001 and signed into law by George W. Bush in 2002. The act was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, but this time, the financial inducement of the Title I funds portion of the bill came with more strings attached than ever before. These strings had severe consequences for schools that did not perform at what states and the federal government deemed acceptable levels; in the spirit of “accountability,” there were few or no rewards for meeting the set standards. Instead, schools and districts had to deal with a litany of sanctions for not meeting benchmarks. Even so, schools continued to struggle to meet standards and close achievement gaps.