The Important (and boring) Work of Accountability

Sorry, dear reader, for putting you through my thoughts on accountability. You've guessed it... that's what we're working on right now. But it's made me think... accountability is the one thing that school folk see as important, yes, but HELL NO, don't put me on the data team, puh-leeze. Yes, data is considered pretty boring, but it's also faceless and straightforward, impersonal and to the point. You can stick it on a graph. You can't stick a kid on a graph... you can't account for the fact that she didn't have breakfast the morning of the test because she got up late... you can't consider that he's had a head cold for the past couple of days, or that he's suffering from asthma... you can't chart the way he feels about this test you've put in front of him...