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A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Accountability

Academic standards and annual tests give communities a wealth of information that can and should prompt them to make important decisions. After several years of testing, clear pictures tend to emerge about the performance of the system and of individual schools. The data on student achievement serve as education's "bottom line."

Once communities have this information, they must use it. Commend the best schools and replicate their best practices. Identify and intervene in struggling schools. If schools persist in failure, use test data to build the case for change, such as the replacement of the principal or teaching staff or some other form of reorganization. Demand improvement. Decline excuses.

In President Bush's plan, low-performing schools will be identified and given extra help. If they do not improve after several years, then states and districts must take action, or parents will be given federal assistance to send their children to a different, and better public school or to pay for private tutoring.

The most dangerous thing you can do for your community is to assume that "the experts" are running the schools just fine. If they are not giving good answers to your questions—or if you and your peers are not asking any questions—the children of your community are missing the opportunity to reach their full potential. People who struggle to acquire as adults the education they should have received as children display admirable tenacity—but they will tell you that they would have preferred to get it right the first time. For today's children, it is not too late to get it right, if you take action now.

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Last updated—December 17, 2004 (jer)