Holistic Accountability
Serving Students, Schools, and Community
Experts In Assessment Series
"In Holistic Accountability, Reeves succeeds in recasting the accountability dilemma into a win-win plan for school administrators who are weary of the test score sweepstakes and for policy makers who are demanding results. It is an excellent approach—one that is sound, reasonable, comprehensive, and relevant. The accompanying sample accountability reports are very useful."
—School Business Affairs, October 2002
Accountability is more than just test scores!
Nationally recognized expert on assessment, Dr. Douglas B. Reeves, offers a comprehensive program of holistic accountability, a system that includes not only test scores but also the instructional and leadership practices at a school. Holistic accountability systems yield information about curriculum, assessment, and instruction that can lead directly and swiftly to better practices and better decision making for teachers, school leaders, and policymakers.
This essential guide explores the four building blocks of accountability: structure, collaboration, implementation, and communication. Dr. Reeves offers a complete, practical program that can have a profoundly positive impact on students, teachers, and parents. This practical and powerful book:
- Links accountability and academic standards
- Includes three case studies of effective accountability systems
- Explains how to communicate about educational accountability
- Contains sample reports adaptable to any school or system
. . . always focusing on the central purpose of accountability: the improvement of student achievement.
Educators, administrators, school leaders, school board members, school leadership teams, and parents can make use of this groundbreaking work to improve accountability policies at the classroom, school, or district level.
"A great practitioner’s guide to improving student achievement through accountability. Dr. Reeves has taken a very challenging topic and made it "user friendly," focusing on the true mission of education, which is improving student learning. Accountability is much more than test scores, as Dr. Reeves points out in this outstanding book."
"Dr. Reeves makes sense of the hodgepodge of issues that currently surrounds educational accountability. The concepts are turned into practical applications that not only address the concerns of school personnel and community members, but also focus on improving student achievement."
"Doug Reeves knows education—not from an ivory tower perspective, but from that of a committed practitioner. His work provides a refreshingly constructive take on the issue of accountability: Data should be used to build learning, instruction, and educational policy, not to punish students or teachers."
"There is not a concept in education that is used more and understood less than ‘accountability.’ In Holistic Accountability, Doug Reeves brings clarity and understanding to the concept. He illustrates how complex and multidimensional the concept becomes when it is invoked in a thoughtful and just manner. This book should be read and its recommendations followed by anyone seriously attempting to make sense of this buzzword."
"We have seen Reeves’s work positively impact student achievement in small systems, large districts, and statewide implementations. His practical approach to assessment and accountability provides a clear picture of the interaction between leadership, assessment, teaching, and the learning process. The holistic accountability cycle serves as a blueprint for making accountability a constructive force for improving teaching and learning."
"In Holistic Accountability, Reeves succeeds in recasting the accountability dilemma into a win-win plan for school administrators who are weary of the test score sweepstakes and for policy makers who are demanding results. It is an excellent approach—one that is sound, reasonable, comprehensive, and relevant. The accompanying sample accountability reports are very useful. Policy makers and school administrators who are frustrated with the scoreboard version of accountability will find Holistic Accountability refreshing and satisfying. Happily, it is free of jargon and succeeds in demystifying and recasting one of the most contentious areas in public education today.
School business administrators will also find the book an excellent primer about accountability and may draw a parallel with their own efforts to move beyond viewing fiscal data not as a documentation of what was spent, but how expenditures improved student achievement."