tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/accountability-measures-21818/articlesAccountability measures – The Conversation2017-01-09T01:33:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/708432017-01-09T01:33:04Z2017-01-09T01:33:04ZWho is Betsy DeVos?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151992/original/image-20170106-18647-si5oul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos speaks in Grand Rapids, Michigan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article first published on Jan. 8, 2017.</em></p>
<p>Since Donald Trump tapped Betsy DeVos to become the secretary of education, her name has been associated with a great deal of controversy and conversation. This came to fruition when she became the first Cabinet position in United States history to be confirmed by a vice president’s tie-breaking vote.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/betsy-devoss-school-mission-1480024466">Much of this conversation</a> has centered around Devos’ controversial past as a supporter, lobbyist and financial donor to causes that directly support school choice and school vouchers, and how she might <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/opinion/betsy-devos-and-the-wrong-way-to-fix-schools.html?_r=0">further this cause as the next education secretary</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/what-is-school-choice/">School choice</a> is a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch-will-school-choice-kill-public-education/2012/06/25/gJQABAor0V_blog.html?utm_term=.b2fb0fc16806">controversial</a> movement that advocates for parents to “choose” the school (public, private, religious, charter, home, online) they feel is best for their children. Tuition is paid for by redistributing funds from government public schools, or from vouchers that come from a government entity. School choice proponents believe this market-based approach spurs competition, <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/how-does-school-choice-affect-public-schools/">causing all schools to improve</a>. </p>
<p>Trump made his support of school choice clear during his election campaign – <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/education">Trump’s campaign promised</a> to earmark US$20 billion to the federal education budget to provide “choice” for students nationwide. </p>
<p>As a researcher of education policy and politics, related to <a href="http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Community-Schools/eSchools">e-schools</a> and brick-and-mortar charter schools, I’ve been following the dialogue within the political and educational community and the concerns over what her tenure as secretary of education will mean for school choice and public schools. </p>
<p>Critics worry that what DeVos worked toward in Michigan is a <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/2017/0104/In-Michigan-a-test-case-for-US-public-schools-under-Trump">foreshadowing for what is to come in the United States</a>. <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/betsy-devos-michigan-school-experiment-232399">DeVos pushed school choice</a> for two decades in her home state of Michigan to improve education, with disappointing results.</p>
<p>Who exactly is Betsy DeVos and what can we learn from her past actions? </p>
<h2>Background</h2>
<p>Betsy DeVos’ most recent job was running the <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/about-us/">American Federation for Children</a>, an advocacy organization. The group’s <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/about-us/mission/">self-described mission</a> is “promoting school choice, with a specific focus on advocating for school vouchers, scholarship tax credit programs and Education Savings Accounts.” </p>
<p>In this role, DeVos lobbied the state of Michigan, and others, <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/betsy-devos-look-numbers/">for legislation that promotes school choice</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Children line up at a charter school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neontommy/12488014164/in/photolist-k2wkx3-5emtNP-8tgBeB-5eqU5U-5eqMxw-5emuZr-dpjptd-6gJSKE-5eqSd5-5emtr6-5emoXT-5emtyg-5vj4gD-qGZ2FH-pGVci5-5emqee-8tgBtT-5emonD-k2wprL-rDLnAv-rBteS1-5vonTs-aAHrNV-aAHfDM-de4u6Z-8tgBfP-o2dQqj-5eqSwU-5emqmg-5emvLM-k2wmPw-5von4S-qnufNk-doHDpT-nB4mKu-4z593y-doHRMo-9iFHyD-5vomo9-qnmiu9-6peYW6-iyucDc-4FFE8G-iCKMic-rnbweu-8tgBL4-5emqRc-9udQVk-5emvpe-5vonxm">Neon Tommy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Prior to running the American Federation for Children, DeVos was the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Michigan and served in other leadership roles in the Republican Party. </p>
<p>DeVos currently sits on the board of directors for the <a href="http://www.allianceforschoolchoice.org/">Alliance for School Choice</a> – a special interest organization that marshals donations toward legislative action in favor of school vouchers.</p>
<p>DeVos is married to the heir to the Amway fortune and together both are billionaires. <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/12/betsy_devos_would_be_first_ed_.html">Neither DeVos nor her children ever attended a public school</a>, which is unprecedented in the 35-year existence of the role of education secretary. Every education secretary to date either went to public school or had children that attended public schools. </p>
<h2>Michigan agenda and beyond</h2>
<p>While in Michigan, DeVos and her husband worked to advance the choice and voucher agenda substantially. Together, they started the <a href="http://www.glep.org/about-glep/">Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP)</a> which has worked to provide funding and private training to state legislators to advocate for the <a href="http://www.glep.org/glep-mission/">redirection of public funds</a> from traditional public schools to other options, including charter schools, private schools, parochial schools (private schools with a religious affiliation) and online schools. Several of these types of schools are run by <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/NEPC_NP-EMO-09-10.pdf">education management organizations that earn profit</a> from managing publicly funded schools. </p>
<p>GLEP actively <a href="http://www.glep.org/2016-campaign/">endorses candidates</a> that subscribe to the school choice agenda. Since Trump named DeVos his pick for education secretary, GLEP’s current head, Gary Naeyaert, has <a href="http://www.glep.org/betsy-devos-named-political-figure-of-the-year/">posted several</a> articles on GLEP’s website praising the work of DeVos. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2016/12/betsy_devos_helped_create_michigan_charter_sector_how_its_doing.html?r=113331457&_ga=1.174998178.1888671687.1482882702">results of the increased choice in Michigan</a>, and Detroit more specifically, are not clear. <a href="http://urbancharters.stanford.edu/download/Urban%20Charter%20School%20Study%20Report%20on%2041%20Regions.pdf">Stanford University released a study</a> that claims that charter schools in Detroit have a slight edge over public schools. Conversely, a more recent study from New York City’s <a href="http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/preferences-and-outcomes-a-look-at-new-york-citys-public-high-school-choice-process.pdf">Independent Budget Office questions</a> whether choice programs actually benefit lower-income students. <a href="https://theconversation.com/charter-schools-fabulous-or-failures-35995">Many scholars</a> have <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/11/02/school-choice.html">questioned</a> the broader choice agenda.</p>
<h2>Confirmation</h2>
<p>During <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?421224-1/education-secretary-nominee-betsy-devos-testifies-confirmation-hearing">Senate confirmation hearings in January</a>, DeVos created more controversy with her responses to several questions asked by members of the confirmation committee.</p>
<p>In one exchange, DeVos was asked if she supported schools being gun-free zones. Her response was that a school in Wyoming might need a gun <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/betsy-devos-grizzlies-wyoming-when-asked-about-guns-in-schools/">to fend off grizzly bears</a>. In another exchange, DeVos stated she was “confused” after declaring that the enforcement of a federal law for students with disabilities should be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/28/the-telling-letter-betsy-devos-wrote-to-clarify-her-position-on-u-s-disabilities-law/?utm_term=.ca494720161a">up to individual states</a>.</p>
<p>On Feb. 7, she became the first cabinet position in United States history to be confirmed by <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/VPTies.pdf">a tie-breaking vote by the vice president</a>. Only two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), voted against her nomination.</p>
<h2>What’s the future?</h2>
<p>The question is, could DeVos influence policy?</p>
<p>Some might argue that in the United States, the federal government is secondary in crafting education policy because most educational decisions are left to states. </p>
<p>This is because the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/tenth_amendment">United States is a federal</a> governmental system, and the Constitution, under which this system is governed, does not mention or consider the provision of education.</p>
<p>Despite the traditional understanding of state-controlled education, the national government has taken more power in the last several decades. The Department of Education budget has <a href="https://ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget17/budget-factsheet.pdf">swelled to over $200 billion</a> from <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/history/edhistory.pdf">just under $20 billion in 1980</a>. Adding to the larger budget, Congress has passed several <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/saa.html">laws that promote educational accountability</a>, which tie additional federal funds to state implementation of these statutory suggestions. It took the latest piece of federal legislation, called the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, to put some of this power back to the states.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Accountability is based on a system of standardized testing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shinealight/2220267854/in/photolist-4ocshf-jdmxFd-dwphu8-bzH2FN-2Ge5Ad-nN5dxA-8VvSaf-tX8Ls-tX8mH-tX8Gj-so3ioA-tX8g5-tX8tc-tX8dM-tX8BR-tX8oT-tX8aW-tX8xN-tX84J-tX814-tX87J-A6JZq-66JPu7-tX7TV-8vEXkh-f3rcu5-wR4xs-7KS76L-pbB4Yd-bSXrxr-4iLBEW-m2SWHp-a7M72W-787EzG-5xqRc3-na6KMt-9LPBnH-6akRDL-kDdac2-oW3LQq-oW9wQS-66Exo6-66JPK7-66Exat-8tZhVF-o9JVqP-6Fayur-4HDHhG-dwxpou-8vBVVr">Ryan McGilchrist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Accountability is based on a system of standardized tests that measure specific pieces of information. Proponents of choice and vouchers seem to look to these tests as the evidence that show whether or not students are learning. </p>
<p>This market-based approach is debated by <a href="http://www.nea.org/home/38711.htm">teachers’ unions</a>, parents and <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ750641.pdf">others in the public education field</a> – but all 50 states have adopted some sort of testing accountability.</p>
<p>The organizations with which Betsy DeVos has been involved view standardized testing data as an essential tool needed for accountability. <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/ed-choice-101/educational-choice/">They use this as the evidence</a> to support a movement that redistributes public school funds and gives parents the choice to send their children to private schools or charter schools. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1176146?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Some refer to this as privatization</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594511152/teacherscolleger">point out that</a> the effectiveness of federal choice policies <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/print/educ/Privatization.pdf">is still unclear.</a></p>
<p>How education policies might be influenced based on these past actions is hard to know. One early indication could be Trump’s budget proposal to the Congress. The education portion of his budget will reveal the intentions of the coming policies of the DeVos era and subsequent potential for “school choice.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dustin Hornbeck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Confirmed in a historic tie-breaking vote by Vice President Pence, Betsy DeVos will be the next secretary of education. Here’s what you need to know about her past legislative actions and proposals.Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/498152015-12-08T19:17:30Z2015-12-08T19:17:30ZFollowing suit: why political conventions matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103100/original/image-20151125-4062-cegv2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia still follows Westminster in allowing key principles of democratic accountability to operate according to convention</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bradhammonds/13702284943/in/photolist-mSPMW8-7aXS7J-t8d8A-odjdJ3-85ha4U-otoN6h-DdREM-7sxXMP-qnGxQG-n5hqc7-4aQ2BD-bgEeaK-914ied-7mhJW5-c2JWAb-grUtyr-59VnJ-dAT8VR-oF3RKS-qPAUfS-8YgUu-dLZDQn-naSexz-5WQjQB-kSz8pA-nV1XCz-dWJts1-gTdhHJ-c3sAKw-oGgV9W-6nv36U-xoiYUv-5gqRy9-rsASzZ-nFZkVM-bkyUcf-8La6BT-914khA-bkyZpw-y71t3-bvZUpo-dq2qjE-pxHkg9-fwsGrf-eRpuhZ-6BbamL-zGAViz-5BKURH-5WVugh-y71t2">Brad Hammonds</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Conventions are accepted practices that don’t have the authority of law but depend instead on the force of shared values and expectations. They are more fluid and contestable than legal rules and tend to evolve over time. </p>
<p>All political systems make extensive use of conventions as part of their political culture. But such conventions are particularly important in systems based on the United Kingdom’s Westminster model. </p>
<h2>Wacky Westminster</h2>
<p>The United Kingdom has no formal, written constitution – though it does have much legislation that is constitutionally relevant. It relies on conventions to define some of its most fundamental constitutional principles. These include the democratic principles that elected governments should be accountable to their citizens and respect their rights. </p>
<p>Though the Australian Commonwealth has a formal constitution as part of its federal settlement with the states, it still follows Westminster in allowing key principles of democratic accountability to operate according to convention.</p>
<p>Many of these conventions are contested. Even the most fundamental democratic convention underpinning the electoral process – that the governor-general acts only on the advice of the prime minister with the support of a majority in the House of Representatives – was successfully challenged in 1975. </p>
<p>The governor-general at the time, Sir John Kerr, acted on his own initiative and dismissed the Whitlam Labor government. That opened the way for the election of the Fraser Coalition government. This highly controversial decision influenced subsequent political attitudes towards the importance of constitutional conventions. </p>
<p>In general, the political left has tended to be in favour of strict observance of constitutional conventions as a matter of independent principle. The political right, though also respectful of established conventions, has shown itself less squeamish about breaking conventions in the name of the national interest as defined by the government of the day.</p>
<h2>Polity and policy</h2>
<p>Conventions of ministerial responsibility underpin the daily accountability of ministers to parliament and the public. Broadly speaking, ministers are obliged to take responsibility for the conduct of their portfolios in the sense of responding to parliamentary requests for information or imposing remedies when faults are brought to light. They are also required to answer directly to the public by taking questions from the media. </p>
<p>Ministers are expected to take the blame for actions for which they are personally responsible, but not for those that are clearly the fault of officials. Oppositions – and commentators – commonly claim ministers should resign both for their own mistakes and for those of their officials, but this has never been accepted practice.</p>
<p>By convention, misleading parliament is one of the few offences that can precipitate a ministerial resignation. This unfortunately encourages ministers to be evasive and economical with the truth. Otherwise, ministers decide how much information they reveal to parliament or the public – the only sanction being political accountability to voters.</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://theconversation.com/back-to-the-wall-brough-dramatically-switches-his-story-on-slipper-diary-51677">Mal Brough case</a> underlines, the convention is flexible in application, which largely depends on the prime minister’s judgement of the relative political costs of retaining or discarding a minister. Even if Brough remains in parliament, however, the damage he has sustained shows the continuing force of the convention.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103095/original/image-20151125-18261-kilsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103095/original/image-20151125-18261-kilsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103095/original/image-20151125-18261-kilsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103095/original/image-20151125-18261-kilsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103095/original/image-20151125-18261-kilsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103095/original/image-20151125-18261-kilsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103095/original/image-20151125-18261-kilsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The sacking of Gough Whitlam brought condemnation for its clear challenge to previously respected political conventions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Archives of Australia. NAA: A6180, 13/11/75/33</span></span>
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<p>Ministerial responsibility has also been used to protect the anonymity of public servants, on the ground that only ministers should answer for their departments and agencies. A number of structural reforms, such as the development of Senate estimates committees and the establishment of the ombudsman, have opened public servants up to direct scrutiny of administrative actions, while maintaining ministerial responsibility for matters of “policy”. </p>
<p>The boundaries between “policy” and “administration” are inherently contestable and a common cause of friction. If ombudsmen or auditors-general venture into criticising the substance of government policy (instead of its implementation), for instance, they are likely to face objections from ministers on the ground that the elected government has the right to impose its own policy direction. </p>
<p>At the same time, ministers surrender their democratic accountability obligations when they choose to devolve responsibility onto others. An example is outsourcing implementation of controversial policies to private sector contractors not subject to the same accountability regime as government officials. </p>
<h2>Yes, minister</h2>
<p>Relations between ministers and the public service are also subject to shifting conventions. Westminster-based traditions support a politically neutral public service appointed on merit and loyally serving the government of the day. </p>
<p>But since the early 1990s, heads of departments (secretaries), who are appointed by the prime minister, have been employed on limited-term contracts terminable at any time. In 1996, the incoming Coalition prime minister, John Howard, broke the convention that incumbent secretaries would serve out their terms under a new government, by immediately replacing six secretaries. </p>
<p>The convention was restored by the next Labor prime minister, Kevin Rudd, but broken again by the Coalition’s Tony Abbott. Labor seems to see the value of trusting the professionalism of the public service, while the Coalition, being more doubtful of the capacity and loyalty of public servants, seeks to vigorously impose its own political control over the machinery of government. </p>
<p>All recent governments have emphasised the importance of media management and have increased the number and influence of political advisers. This has weakened the close relationship with public servants on which Westminster public service conventions depend.</p>
<p>Other areas in which conventions are both important and controversial include relations between the executive and judicial branches of government, the extent of political patronage in government appointments, and the use of public funds for political campaigning. </p>
<p>While conventions have the general advantage of being free from legalistic rigidity, they can be open to abuse for partisan reasons. The fact that they depend on political sanctions for enforcement places a particular onus on conventions surrounding transparency of government information as a safeguard of democratic accountability.</p>
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<p><em>This is the first in a series on <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/breaking-political-conventions">breaking political conventions</a>. Look out for more articles exploring various political conventions in the coming days.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Mulgan receives funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>Political conventions may be challenged and redefined by every new government, but it is their role in promoting political accountability that ensures the health of our democracy.Richard Mulgan, Emeritus Professor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/496772015-11-02T03:26:07Z2015-11-02T03:26:07ZAccountability and the viral video: there are still no guarantees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100257/original/image-20151030-20144-1odv8qy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Modern video technology can make matters public, but accountability still depends on political processes to produce just outcomes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQqgVlk0NQ">YouTube/screenshot</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/democracy-futures">Democracy Futures</a> series, a <a href="http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/shortcodes/images-videos/articles-democracy-futures/">joint global initiative</a> with the <a href="http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/">Sydney Democracy Network</a>. The project aims to stimulate fresh thinking about the many challenges facing democracies in the 21st century.</em></p>
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<p>The latest viral videos of police brutality – this time at a high school in South Carolina – illustrate the steady increase in public accountability over recent decades for actions that would otherwise have gone under the radar.</p>
<p>Last week, three quick-minded students in a small classroom at Spring Valley High had their phones out and recording in anticipation of violent behaviour by a police officer called in to deal with a recalcitrant student. It worked. Within two days of the videos going public, Richland County Sheriff’s Office deputy Ben Fields lost his job.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HN966KxyoIU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The scenes from a South Carolina classroom captured by students on their phones.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Video technology has created accountability where there had been none before. The seminal moment in the history of this trend was the 1992 beating of motorist Rodney King, which George Holliday videotaped from his apartment in Lake View Terrace, Los Angeles.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sb1WywIpUtY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The recording of the 1992 police beating of Rodney King heralded the arrival of video-driven accountability.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As video became cheaper and more mobile, minorities came to see the camcorder as a slim hope of protection against police harassment. As rapper Ice Cube <a href="http://genius.com/299173">put it</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Tearin up my coupe lookin for the chronic</p>
<p>Goddamn nobody got a Panasonic?!</p>
</blockquote>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Psgyihpgezs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ice Cube’s Who Got the Camera?, released soon after the LA riots triggered by the beating of Rodney King.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Well, today everyone has one in their pocket and the effects are profound.</p>
<p>There are now wholes genres of citizen-shot cell-phone videos, evidencing a range of bad actions that would otherwise have gone to ground. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li>the police shooting;</li>
</ul>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XKQqgVlk0NQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A policeman in North Charleston, South Carolina, shoots an apparently unarmed man after a scuffle following a traffic stop.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li>the racist rant on public transport; and</li>
</ul>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/20JB6wIr78M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A woman racially abuses another passenger on a train in New South Wales.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li>the over-the-top road rage incident.</li>
</ul>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6pZHwCMx4zw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A man pulls a gun in a road-rage incident in James City, North Carolina.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These videos expose people in ways that can be later used for anything from shaming the offenders to mounting legal action and instigating political movements.</p>
<p>These examples illustrate a key ingredient of accountability: access. If we are to have any chance of holding someone to account for their actions, we need access to knowledge of those actions in the first place. The videos are showing us what is actually happening.</p>
<h2>We have the knowledge, but what about outcomes?</h2>
<p>But if exposure through surveillance (or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance">“sousveillance”</a>) appears to promise accountability, that promise is not always delivered. Take the phenomenon of the hit-to-kill driver in China, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2015/09/why_drivers_in_china_intentionally_kill_the_pedestrians_they_hit_china_s.html?wpsrc=rollingstone">described</a> recently by Geoffrey Sant:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In China, drivers who have injured pedestrians will sometimes then try to kill them. And yet not only is it true, it’s fairly common; security cameras have regularly captured drivers driving back and forth on top of victims to make sure that they are dead.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why make sure that they are dead? These drivers’ rationale is that the payout for accidentally killing someone is a one-off, while supporting a seriously injured person could go on for life. </p>
<p>Video recordings may expose this but often it hasn’t made a difference. Many of the hit-to-kill cases in China do not result in convictions, but are declared accidents, or cases of negligence, despite suggestive if not compelling video evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p>Here is the second ingredient of accountability: the need for outcomes. There has to be a system of the kind that can create and enforce an appropriate outcome based on the evidence – whether that be punishment for a transgression, or revision of how things are done – to ensure that the problem doesn’t occur again. </p>
<p>Without a system that can pursue and effect outcomes, the mere exposure of outrageous actions is no guarantee that anyone will be held to account for them.</p>
<p>But what are the right outcomes in any given case? </p>
<h2>Proper accounting requires principled evaluation</h2>
<p>Here is a third ingredient of accountability. Outcomes cannot be determined without a method of evaluation. Actions cannot be judged out of context, nor can they be assessed without knowledge of the reasons behind them, and the rights and duties of those involved.</p>
<p>When a sniper uses a bullet to end a person’s life, this act will be evaluated in very different ways depending on the rights and duties of the shooter. If he is a soldier doing the job he is paid for, the evaluation will be positive. The outcome might be official praise. But if he is off duty and is settling a personal score, then this will be bad. The shooter may be jailed for life or even executed.</p>
<p>This all suggests that accountability lies on shifting sands. We may have access to others’ actions and yet we often lack the full story – as defenders Fields’ behaviour <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/glenn-beck-classroom-cop-video-anarchy_5630ca75e4b00aa54a4bf27c?section=australia&adsSiteOverride=au">might suggest</a>. </p>
<p>Also, who has the right to demand access and who has the duty to provide it? We may want to evaluate those actions, but what frame of reference are we to use? And we may want to pursue outcomes, but by what authority will they be effected?</p>
<p>Accountability is not just about our duty to reveal our actions (or our right to conceal them), but also about our right to defend those actions by giving reasons for, and background to, what we have done. This is the essence of the “accounting” that gives accountability its name. </p>
<p>To understand accountability, we need to acknowledge that it has distinct ingredients, none of which guarantees the others. Increased access to people’s actions is a start, but to achieve the right outcomes, there have to be principled means of evaluation. </p>
<p>They have to be at least principled because they cannot be objective. When can we demand that others’ actions be revealed and when can we refuse to reveal our own? How are our actions to be evaluated? What should be the outcomes?</p>
<p>These questions can only be answered relative to specific frames of reference. This is why accountability is always a political matter.</p>
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<p><em>Join the conversation about accountability at two events in Sydney on Thursday, November 5:</em></p>
<p><em>9am-5pm <a href="http://bit.ly/power-accountability">Power and Accountability</a> symposium;</em></p>
<p><em>6pm-8pm <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2015/accountability.shtml">Accountability: why do we need it and how do we get it?</a> panel discussion – Sydney Ideas.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Enfield receives funding from The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at The University of Sydney. </span></em></p>Mobile video technology means outrageous behaviour and abuses can rapidly become public knowledge, but achieving just outcomes still depends on a political willingness to act on such knowledge.Nick Enfield, Professor and Chair of Linguistics, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/479952015-10-21T10:30:52Z2015-10-21T10:30:52ZCan it get more absurd? Now music teachers are being tested based on math and reading scores<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99095/original/image-20151020-32255-xw0s2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Music teachers are being evaluated on subjects they do not teach.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ms Matthews was apprehensive as she opened the envelope containing her evaluation report. She had worked hard over the summer, taking graduate classes to learn some new teaching strategies to help her students improve their music listening and reading skills. She had excitedly incorporated these techniques in her classes. </p>
<p>But the state had just increased the portion of her yearly effectiveness rating based on the math and reading scores of students in her school system from 40% to 50%. Now, her annual evaluation as a music teacher would be determined largely on the scores her students earned on their standardized math and reading tests; not on her ability to help her students learn how to sing, play instruments, compose and improvise.</p>
<p>Ms Matthews was worried that those scores might lower her rating from the previous year’s “Highly Effective” to “Minimally Effective,” or, even worse, “Ineffective.” Two consecutive ratings of “Ineffective” could mean the loss of her position in the high-needs school where she worked. </p>
<p>As a former high school music teacher and school administrator who now studies education and music education policy issues, I have seen the serious misuse of data in teacher evaluation. I know Ms Matthews is not the only one to open the envelope with the evaluation report with trembling hands.</p>
<p>Music teachers across the United States are being evaluated based on test scores in subjects they don’t teach.</p>
<h2>Tools of measurement</h2>
<p>Teacher evaluation today is based on the use of statistical formulas known as “value-added measures” (VAM). The idea behind VAM is that student test scores can be used not only to measure student learning but also the instruction from their teachers.</p>
<p>In simple terms, VAM compares an estimate of a hypothetical group of students’ test scores to a set of test scores from actual students. The average of all students’ differences is the school’s VAM score. VAM scores are intended to measure the contribution of a teacher or school to student learning.</p>
<p>However, much of the <a href="http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/resources/value-added-measures">current research</a> suggests that these scores are too imprecise and variable to carry much validity as an indication of a teacher’s effectiveness. </p>
<p>Currently, every state in the country <a href="http://resource.tqsource.org/stateevaldb/Compare50States.aspx">requires</a> the use of “student growth measures” in math and reading as a factor in teacher evaluation. As many as 17 states specifically mandate VAM for the evaluation. In these states, as much as 50% of an individual teacher’s rating is now determined by this formula. Many states have been <a href="http://www.fairtest.org/teacher-evaluation-fact-sheet-2014">forced into instituting</a> these forms of evaluation due to pressures exerted by the Department of Education in order “to win federal Race to the Top grants or waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB).”</p>
<p>However, this is not the purpose for which VAM was originally intended or designed. The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/leading-mathematician-debunks-value-added/2011/05/08/AFb999UG_blog.html">initial intent of VAM</a>, according to <a href="http://blogs.sas.com/content/statelocalgov/2015/06/19/the-man-behind-vam-bill-sanders-honored-for-a-lifetime-of-education-service/">William Sanders</a> (known as the “father” of VAM), was to help researchers make sense of huge “mountains of data, using mathematics in the same way it was used to understand the growth of crops or the effects of a drug.”</p>
<p>As a recent statement issued by the American Statistical Association <a href="http://www.amstat.org/policy/pdfs/asa_vam_statement.pdf">stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>VAMs typically measure correlation, not causation: Effects – positive or negative – attributed to a teacher may actually be caused by other factors that are not captured in the model. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These problems are only magnified when VAM is used to evaluate music teachers.</p>
<p>Imagine for a moment, a physician being evaluated based upon their patients’ illnesses or injuries, not on the treatment delivered. Or consider the logic behind evaluating a steakhouse based on the fish you had at the seafood restaurant across the street last night. </p>
<p>This is what is currently happening with VAM being used for evaluation of music teachers.</p>
<h2>Assessment tools</h2>
<p>Numerous <a href="http://pmepd.weebly.com">music education policy groups</a> have begun to <a href="http://www.nafme.org/take-action/music-education-policy-roundtable/">focus their attention</a> on how these practices are impacting school music programs, teachers and students. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99046/original/image-20151020-32241-l4qwto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99046/original/image-20151020-32241-l4qwto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99046/original/image-20151020-32241-l4qwto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99046/original/image-20151020-32241-l4qwto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99046/original/image-20151020-32241-l4qwto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99046/original/image-20151020-32241-l4qwto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99046/original/image-20151020-32241-l4qwto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How can music teachers be evaluated?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/5278944151/in/photolist-93tYbt-yT5R7-4vn9cf-4vi5xp-4vi4EZ-4vi5f2-4vi9SH-4vn9v7-4vn8Yu-4vi5rF-atHvrY-qKLQ1t-qGyxkU-2zrDTN-7pUoXX-anwWKE-6CjSzD-EWS1S-EWTu1-7rQAd6-6sQNgD-iH98pX-6Zcfwi-9ufkBR-6ZcgqT-cFVU7U-53hfPP-dXWGch-7Xzt8T-o2BUfj-4Mxcsp-81zgMM-vtZznS-6ZcgEc-79jHSG-cFUM2y-cFVrNQ-cFUG9Q-6Zghgs-4Z7TuA-8bcy7z-dkLXpw-cFVvYw-f1jQbz-cFVtW1-9ERrP3-7wC7B5-8bcyp2-cFVxKf-pKxCUK">woodleywonderworks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These groups have <a href="http://pmepd.weebly.com/uploads/4/9/2/4/4924314/evaluation_tool_position_statement_dec_2012.pdf">produced</a> policy briefs and position statements suggesting caution as state departments of education consider increasing the portion of teachers’ evaluations that are based on VAM. </p>
<p>They have also suggested new music-specific evaluation tools that provide teachers with high-quality assessment activities that keep the focus on music teaching and learning – not on math and reading test scores.</p>
<p>For instance, the Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment (MAEIA) initiative has developed a <a href="http://www.michiganassessmentconsortium.org/maeia">database</a> of assessment tools, which are available free of charge to all arts educators.</p>
<h2>We measure what we treasure…or do we?</h2>
<p>But without more thoughtful evaluation systems, even the best data will not result in authentic assessment practices. An example of this comes from the predominant employee evaluation tool in the business world for years, known as “stack ranking.” </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ibtimes.%0Acom/what-stack-ranking-microsoft-ends-controversial-employee-ratingsystem-%0Ayahoo-ramps-it-1468850">At Microsoft</a>, employees were rated “on a score of one to five, with one being the best. Managers were then given a curve to base their rankings on, and forced to give a certain percentage of employees a poor ‘five’ label – even if the managers did not consider the employee to be unsatisfactory at their jobs.” </p>
<p>Often referred to as “rank and yank,” stack ranking did not result in noticeable improvements to employee productivity, and instead contributed to a culture of fear and mistrust at many of the companies in which it was used. </p>
<p>Even as similar systems are gaining traction in public schools in the US, Microsoft, Expedia and Adobe Systems <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-11-13/microsoft-kills-its-hated-stack-rankings-dot-does-anyone-do-employee-reviews-right">have now abandoned</a> the practice of stack ranking. </p>
<p>We often hear the old adage, “We measure what we treasure,” when discussions turn to issues of educational accountability. This saying is often used to provide justification for narrowing the curriculum to math and reading in the elementary grades, and to STEM subjects in the upper grades. </p>
<p><a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/datadriven-%0Aimprovement-accountability/">According</a> to Andy Hargreaves and Henry Braun, policy scholars from Boston College, “Data driven improvement and accountability (DDIA) in the US has focused on what is easily measured rather than on what is educationally valued.” </p>
<p>For most of us, it is precisely those things that we value the most – our families, our students and colleagues, the beauty of a well-turned phrase – that are the most stubbornly resistant to statistical measurement. </p>
<p>It is our duty as policymakers to be sure that the kinds of data we are using to evaluate all teachers are not only valid and reliable, but are meaningful and used appropriately.</p>
<p>Music education can be a vital, critical component of each student’s educational journey if we can work together to develop policies that support and encourage comprehensive musical experiences for all of our nation’s children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mitchell Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A steakhouse wouldn’t be evaluated based on a fish prepared at a seafood restaurant. But this is what teacher evaluation looks like.Mitchell Robinson, Chair of Music Education, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.