ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors explore the importance of accountability and what they hold groups accountable for, the unintended consequences of accountability, and the way accountability has been utilized in a neoliberal mindset to focus on specific outputs and its intentional consequences. Accountability can play an important role in working toward a more socially just educational system although sometimes it can work against such this goal. Jean Anyon's work, among others, shows what can happen when teachers are not held accountable to having the same expectations for students the come from low socioeconomic backgrounds or of children of color. Moreover, the educational system as “failure” of teachers and teacher education has been conveyed over the last decade as a particular narrative that in many ways strengthens the forces that can contribute to the dismantling of public education.
