Friday, December 15, 2006
Missed Metaphor?
In response to this post, which linked to comments made recently by Bruno Manno regarding the adequacy of the market metaphor in describing the work/impact of charter schools, reader SH writes in with some interesting thoughts:
Read the Manno piece you referenced, and was surprised he didn't broach the related metaphorical dyad of accountable/responsive, the differences between which I think have a lot to do with how people feel about school-reform-with-teeth, be it NCLB, charters, etc.
"Accountability" has for most people, I think, a harsh and brittle edge. It's inherently confrontational and irreducibly about power: Who do I fire? Unless they're trapped in--or regularly witness the effects of--schools with truly indifferent (or outright bad) actors, most people would prefer not to become that angry, that inflated.
Most people, on most days, would prefer that their schools be responsive than accountable. "Responsive" is dialog taken seriously,with an end product judged by the stakeholders to be, well, responsive to their needs. It's only when individuals or institutions fail to be responsive that people wish for them to be held accountable and, of course, you can argue that's precisely why we are in an era of accountability. You can however have schools that are highly accountable but essentially unresponsive, and my guess is that's what's happening to schools that parents feel are being harmed by NCLB.
The purer the market, the more it relies on responsiveness (listen and adjust or be left without customers) and the less on accountability (comply and report or lose your license to operate). Charter schools bear both burdens: they must be both responsive to their communities/customers and accountable to regulators. In fact, this is the case for every organization that legally sells a product or service that can cause demonstrable harm if poorly conceived or executed.
If in fact schools do matter, it's hard to imagine a compelling argument for a schema that wouldn't have them subject to both sets of conditions, just as you want your value-added framework to have a place for absolute measures of proficiency as well.
Read the Manno piece you referenced, and was surprised he didn't broach the related metaphorical dyad of accountable/responsive, the differences between which I think have a lot to do with how people feel about school-reform-with-teeth, be it NCLB, charters, etc.
"Accountability" has for most people, I think, a harsh and brittle edge. It's inherently confrontational and irreducibly about power: Who do I fire? Unless they're trapped in--or regularly witness the effects of--schools with truly indifferent (or outright bad) actors, most people would prefer not to become that angry, that inflated.
Most people, on most days, would prefer that their schools be responsive than accountable. "Responsive" is dialog taken seriously,with an end product judged by the stakeholders to be, well, responsive to their needs. It's only when individuals or institutions fail to be responsive that people wish for them to be held accountable and, of course, you can argue that's precisely why we are in an era of accountability. You can however have schools that are highly accountable but essentially unresponsive, and my guess is that's what's happening to schools that parents feel are being harmed by NCLB.
The purer the market, the more it relies on responsiveness (listen and adjust or be left without customers) and the less on accountability (comply and report or lose your license to operate). Charter schools bear both burdens: they must be both responsive to their communities/customers and accountable to regulators. In fact, this is the case for every organization that legally sells a product or service that can cause demonstrable harm if poorly conceived or executed.
If in fact schools do matter, it's hard to imagine a compelling argument for a schema that wouldn't have them subject to both sets of conditions, just as you want your value-added framework to have a place for absolute measures of proficiency as well.
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