Accountability

Agreeing on the meaning and expectations of accountability within the realm of education has proven difficult for scholars, policymakers, and educators. In the simplest of notions, accountability is defined as “the quality or state of being accountable; especially: an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2015). Accountability is concerned with defining who should be accountable, for what one is accountable, and to whom the account should be owed (Leithwood & Earl, 2000; Levitt, Janta, & Wegrich, 2008). Accountability asks the following questions:

Similarly, Gariepy, Spencer, and Couture (2009) and Harvey (2014) argued that accountability should entail responsibility to another person or the willingness to share one’s progress as he or she works to address the concerns, expectations, and perspectives of others. In this instance, accountability results from the relationship between two people and their ability to undertake and share a required task.