Getting accountability right and retaking public education
It is an understatement here in early 2025 to suggest that public education is under assault. At both the federal and state levels there seems to be this perverse desire to do away with one of our most democratizing of institutions. In the past when I criticized such efforts I was arguing against a hypothetical future, but no more. The future is here and those of us who care about public education had better figure out what to do about it. I have appreciated any number of writers giving voice to the positives that might emerge, particularly those who write in my own field of accountability studies. Their optimism is much needed. But I am also concerned in that literally every article or opinion I have read is encouraged by the chance to finally measure what matters. It is that sentiment toward measurement that concerns me. The idea seems to be that we picked the wrong things to measure , or not enough things, and that should we be measuring different things we might finally be able ...