ABSTRACT
Privatization has long been debated and has become a part of the landscape in education-both in the United States and abroad. The movement is based on the notion that private sector forces can be harnessed to improve the delivery of essential public services. But privatization also calls into question basic notions of accountability and “publicness.” This chapter examines what has been learned about accountability from the nation’s experience with privatization of schools and education services. In particular, the chapter explores privatization in light of competing answers to the questions of “accountability for what” and “accountability to whom” and suggests that new policies and reforms promoting privatization represent an important shift in notions of publicness. Trends that have led to privatization are linked to shifts in the goals and perceived purpose of education. In closing the chapter, we illustrate how the shifting goals of education have infl uenced the shifting notion of “publicness.”
