In September 2004, the government changed the framework for how school boards are funded. While some grants were designated to specific programs, much of the spending was left to the discretion of the school boards. The government developed the Accountability Pillar to report on school progress in an attempt to ensure that school boards remained accountable for their spending.
Reports ignore important variables
As part of the Accountability Pillar, every school and school jurisdiction in Alberta receives an annual colour-coded report indicating progress on the government's learning goals. The report is based on results of stakeholder surveys and provincial standardized tests, as well as dropout and scholarship rates. The reports present simple, easy-to-read indicators of school performance, but the indicators are narrow in scope, ignore important contextual variables and do nothing to acknowledge the important work of teachers and students on meaningful affective measures.
Principles for effective accountability
Alberta's teachers believe that educational accountability is the process through which partners in the educational system take responsibility for their actions and report to those who are entitled to that information. The Alberta Teachers' Association has approved seven principles of an effective education accountability system:
- Education partners have a shared understanding of and commitment to fairness, openness, respect for diversity and stewardship, which are key values underlying accountability in education.
- The primary purpose of accountability in education is to support the broad goals of education and the diverse learning needs of children and youth.
- Information for accountability purposes is gathered in a variety of ways from all relevant sources, and reported and used in ways that respect the limitations of the data.
- Sound educational research and practice guide the design and implementation of an accountability system in education.
- Accountability in education enhances the capacity of education partners to fulfill their respective roles and responsibilities and leads to sustained improvement of the system.
- Each education partner is accountable for those areas of the system within its authority and expertise.
- The system of accountability in education is evaluated on an ongoing basis.
