Dr. "TKA" Kulla-Abbott's List: 21st Century Accountability

What Are You Holding Yourself Accountable For?
March 12, 2013
By Brian Nichols


A quick skim of any education reform article or blog post invariably mentions high-stakes testing and an unprecedented era for accountability. I firmly believe that education has always been high-stakes way before anyone ever thought of creating a generation of students who can only problem solve with four answer choices. Virginia is one of the few states that did not adopt the Common Core standards. In fact, Virginia has their own Standards of Learning or SOLs as they are widely referred to. Outside of Virginia, the acronym SOL has a widely different meaning. That is its own post entirely! I have no issue with schools, teachers, principals, and students being held accountable. My question is always…

“What are you holding yourself accountable for?”

We do have standardized tests that mark the end of certain grade levels and content areas. These scores are utilized to determine our success or failure at a state level. It does determine our school’s accreditation and whether we face federal sanctions or not. Although all of this is true, this is not our ending point for accountability. It is in some ways a beginning point and for other ways a part of the process that we have to participate in. I’m very proud to work in a school system that chooses to be accountable for so much more than a test score.

Complexities of Measuring Effectiveness
by John Marschhausen • July 2, 2014 • 0 Comments

“What are the real 3rd grade guarantee numbers?”

“Why do the Ohio Department of Education and the district report different percentages? Are you trying to hide something?”

These are all quotes that have been directed in my direction –either in person or on social media –from community members about the reporting of 3rd grade reading assessments. These questions provide a great opportunity for conversations –meaningful, honest communications about accountability.

“Visibility Creates Accountability”
by George Couros • December 24, 2014 • 1 Comment

Often when I am doing workshops on social media in education, I start off the day asking how many people are on Twitter in the room.  More and more hands are going up in education, and people are starting to see it.

Without any prompting or even teaching how to use Twitter, throughout the day, I ask if people signed up during the day and usually several hands go up.

So why is that?

I think a lot of it has to do with the beginning of the day and seeing how many other educators are using Twitter and raising their hands.  Those hands create both a pressure and curiosity in educators that they want to check it out for themselves.  As I discussed this yesterday in my workshop, one of the participants summarized it up in a single tweet: