Educational Equity and Accountability: Paradigms, Policies, and Politics

by Skrla,Linda; Skrla,Linda

• ISBN13: 9780415945066
• ISBN10: 0415945062
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-10-28
• Publisher: RoutledgeFalmer

Summary

Despite the intense political attention that has been focused on accountability, on standardized testing, and on the equity effects of both accountability and testing, the great majority of recent debate in education policy circles has failed to attend to either the dynamism or complexity of these issues and has, instead, been carried out in a dualistic, good versus evil, fashion. In contrast, the scholarship collected in this important new volume is designed to move beyond the prevailing dualism and to push the discourse about accountability, testing, and educational equity in public schools usefully forward, and to provide a much-needed resource for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
1 Introduction	1	(12)
LINDA SKRLA and JAMES JOSEPH SCHEURICH
Part I: The Equity and Accountability Conversation
2 Thinking Carefully about Equity and Accountability	13	(16)
JAMES JOSEPH SCHEURICH, LINDA SKRLA, and JOSEPH E JOHNSON, JR.
3 Let's Treat the Cause, Not the Symptoms: Equity and Accountability in Texas Revisited	29	(10)
RICHARD R. VALENCIA, ANGELA VALENZUELA, KRIS SLOAN, and DOUGLAS E. FOLEM
4 Continuing the Conversation an Equity and Accountability: Listening Appreciatively, Responding Responsibly	39	(12)
JAMES JOSEPH SCHEURICH and LINDA SKRLA
Part II: The Effect of Accountability Policy on Educational Equity
5 Accountability for Equity: Can State Policy Leverage Social Justice?	51	(28)
LINDA SKRLA, JAMES JOSEPH SCHEURICH, JOSEPH F. JOHNSON, JR., and JAMES W. KOSCHORECK
6 Response to Skrla et al. The Illusion of Educational Equity in Texas: A Commentary on "Accountability for Equity"	79	(12)
WALTER HANEY
7 Response to Skrla et al.: Is There a Connection between Educational Equity and Accountability?	91	(8)
STEPHEN P. KLEIN
8 Complex and Contested Constructions of Accountability and Educational Equity	99	(10)
LINDA SKRLA, JAMES JOSEPH SCHEURICH, JOSEPH F. JOHNSON, JR., and JAMES W. KOSCHORECK
Part III: Equity-Focused Research and Responses on Accountability
9 Displacing Deficit Thinking in School District Leadership	109	(24)
LINDA SKRLA and JAMES JOSEPH SCHEURICH
10 Can State Accountability Systems Drive Improvements in School Performance for Children of Color and Children from Low-Income Homes?	133	(22)
EDWARD J. FULLER and JOSEPH R JOHNSON, JR.
11 Accountability and Educational Equity in the Transformation of an Urban District	155	(20)
JAMES W. KOSCHORECK
12 Using an Aligned System to Make Real Progress for Texas Students	175	(8)
SUSAN SCLAFANI
13 Statewide Assessment Triggers Urban School Reform: But How High the Stakes for Urban Minorities?	183	(6)
LAURENCE PARKER
14 Promoting Educational Equity in a Period of Growing Social Inequity: The Silent Contradictions of the Texas Reform Discourse	189	(12)
GARY L. ANDERSON
15 Polar Positions on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS): Pragmatism and the Politics of Neglect	201	(14)
HENRY T. TRUEBA
Part IV: Critiques and Commentaries on the Equity-Accountability Debate
16 Educational Accountability for English Language Learners in Texas: A Retreat from Equity	215	(20)
WILLIAM R. BLACK and ANGELA VALENZUELA
17 The Unintended Consequences of the Texas Accountability System	235	(16)
KATHRYN BELL McKENZIE
18 Intersections in Accountability Reform: Complexity, Local Actors, Legitimacy, and Agendas	251	(16)
ANDREA K. RORREB
19 Accountability for Special Education Students: Beginning Quality Education	267	(8)
ANTOINETTE F. RIESTER-WOOD
20 Conclusion: Keeping Equity in the Foreground	275	(10)
LINDA SKRLA AND JAMES JOSEPH SCHEURICH
Contributors	285	(4)
Index	289