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Accountability in Education

Katherine Speicher

EDUA 563: Supporting Teacher Growth

04 September 2020

Dr. Tracey Vander Hayden

Concordia University Irvine

School of Education
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Accountability in Education

On Saturday, August 22 Dr. Anthony Muhammad, Ph.D virtually joined Concordia

University students in a symposium presentation to teach the future leaders in education how to

become transformational leaders. Dr Muhammad has served as a middle school teacher,

assistant principal, and as a principal. Currently, he travels to different countries in an attempt to

transform the world of leadership and administration into a more functional and ethical branch of

our educational system. He began his presentation by asking his audience: What qualities must

a leader possess to transform behavior and build consensus? After receiving a plethora of

varying responses from the audience, Muhammad explained that “effective school leaders must

develop specific skills — a balance of both assertiveness and encouraged autonomy — to engage

those they lead in the change process” (Time for Change, 2020). These skills would be more

explicitly broken down to four critical behaviors which he elaborated on for the rest of his

symposium: Communication, Building Trust, Building Support, and Accountability.

An Ethical Administration

As someone who has had the opportunity to work under different administrations in

different districts, I found Dr Muhammad’s message related to ethics in leadership roles

profound. Throughout his presentation, he reiterated to his audience that “accountability is

unethical if it is not provided with support” (Time for Change, 2020). Dr Muhammad was clear

in stating the obvious — a school culture that is heavy on accountability but offers no support is

a culture of fear, stress, and gossip. Almost immediately I traveled back in time to my

employment at a local charter school. As Dr Muhammad listed the effects of a “dictorship

versus leadership”, I remembered the dread I felt as I was continuously overloaded by my

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administrators without mercy or empathy for my experience as a novice teacher completing

induction (Time for Change, 2020). At that school gossip, fear, and stress ran rampant. The

school ran on student test data every quarter but there was little communication, trust, and

support coming from the school administrators or the district. There never seemed to be a week

without a teacher quitting, getting fired, or crying in their classroom after an exhausting day of

work. I found myself frequently asking: “Is this what teaching is like? What did I get myself

into?” I was only two years into my professional career already wondering what career I could

possibly jump into next if not teaching.

That is not to say that keeping teachers accountable is contrary to a good leader. Dr

Muhammad explained that it is absolutely important that administrators expect a “return of their

investment after all the supports have been provided” (Time for Change, 2020). The value of

this is evident at my current school site where I see the implementation of all four critical

behaviors among the administrators at the school and district level. While not all four behaviors

are present in a single administrator, Dr Muhammad expressed the practicality of hiring leaders

that are “complementary to your own skill levels so you have a fully talented team” (Time for

Change, 2020). Having a fully rounded team that supports staff, builds trust, and communicates

well allows the leadership team to foster a culture of productivity and engagement. However,

ultimately, the “implementation of the fourth behavior — accountability — determines the

effectiveness of the leader” (Time for Change, 2020). Dr Muhammad reminds us that “for many

educators, accountability has become a dirty word” but accountability is the driving force of

what we do in the classroom (Time for Change, 2020). Accountability, if done well, is what

brings to focus our mission as leaders and educators: student achievement.

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Reference

Muhammad, Anthony. (2020, August). Time for Change! The Four Essential Skills of a

Transformational School and District Leader. Lecture conducted from Concordia

University Irvine, United States.