Opinion Essay 6: Shared Leadership and Participatory Accountability

• In Event: The Future of Measurement and Accountability: A Research-Driven Vision

Abstract

This op-ed emphasizes the importance of community involvement in school accountability systems, speaking to research concerning shared leadership and authentic participation. Specifically, the essay covers three areas: (a) the benefits of such involvement (Neri, Lozano, & Gomez, 2019); (b) the harms of top-down accountability that fails to involve school communities (Evans, 2019); and (c) how authentic and meaningful shared leadership and participation can be undermined by structures that allow small groups to hoard decision-making power and discourage representative participation (Abowitz, 2015; Abowitz & Mamlock, 2020; Hartney, 2022; Murray et al., 2019; Polikoff, 2021; Sabin, 2021). In light of research, this essay offers five key recommendations:
Policy Recommendation 1: States should incentivize and facilitate school and school-district partnerships with parent and community organizations that are representative and work with underserved, marginalized, and disenfranchised communities to ensure that their voices are elevated and potent.
Policy Recommendation 2: States and districts should create structures for participation that are safe for all parents and that support and incentivize the lowering of barriers for authentic engagement from community members.
Policy Recommendation 3: The representative accountability bodies should have a deliberative democratic process for collecting and responding to data, including gathering and considering community feedback. Policy makers should also put in place participatory sensemaking around data.
Policy Recommendation 4: States should hold the system accountable, as part of a commitment to reciprocal accountability.
Policy Recommendation 5: Every significant element of the shared leadership and participation process should include evaluative feedback loops.

Authors

• Derek Gottlieb, University of Northern Colorado
  Presenting Author

• Kevin G. Welner, University of Colorado - Boulder
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer Randall, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author