Contesting Accountability and Rebuilding Trust: How Rural Educational Leaders Negotiate Accountability Policy

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Dynamics of Local Educational Improvement

Abstract

Through widespread “opt-out” efforts, activists have pressured districts, states, and the federal government to reconsider the role of state-mandated assessments. Such activism poses unique challenges for school and district leaders: how to negotiate public resistance to testing with state requirements and professional obligations? In this case study, we explore how rural educational leaders negotiated contested debates about standards and assessment, often responding to state accountability policies poorly suited for rural contexts. We document three areas of disjuncture between the such policies and rural districts: size and scale, teaching and the teacher workforce, and the collateral damage of accountability policy. We argue that accountability policy—as currently conceived—contributes to building public scrutiny and distrust in the public schools.

Authors

• Terri S. Wilson, University of Colorado Boulder

• Michele S. Moses, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Maravene Taylor-Heine, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Matthew Hastings, University of Colorado - Boulder