Public K-12 education in the United States today faces a continuous, dynamic, and at times bewildering barrage of changes that run the gamut from issues of accountability to controversies over sex education. Within this continuum of change and counter-change, issues of academic performance, equity in education, school choice, support for home schooling, the interactions between performance testing and instructional discretion, teacher qualifications, school funding formulas, and a whole host of other issues assault administrators, support staff, teachers, students, and parents on an almost daily basis (Goldring & Schuermann, 2009). What types of change do public schools encounter most frequently in today's educational environment? One answer to that question is, take your choice. Almost any response has a good chance of being the correct response on any given day.
A more reasoned response, however, is that issues associate with accountability in the various manifestations of that concept are the most frequent sources of change in today's educational environment. One important source of accountability-driven change is change that involves teacher accountability for student academic performance (Thiem, 2009). Another important source of accountability-driven change is change that involves organizational accountability for the educational services provided to the learning-disabled (McLaughlin & Rhim, 2007).
Goldring, E., & Schuermann, P. (2009). The changing context of K-12 education administration: Consequences for Ed.D. program design and delivery. PJE. Peabody Journal of Education, 84(1), 9-43.
McLaughlin, M. J., & Rhim, L. M. (2007, March). Accountability frameworks and children with disabilities: A test of assumptions about improving public education for all students. International Journal of Disability, Development & Education, 54(1), 25-49.
Thiem, C. H. (2009, April). Thinkin
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