Accountability: Some Considerations of a Continuing Educational Dilemma

In recent years, the accountability issue has become the eminence grise of the educational enterprise and has polarized constituencies within and without the educational arena. The divisiveness engendered by this controversy has largely clouded discussion on how to make the educational process more efficient and effective.This paper attempts to suggest some options for a "middle-ground" approach to the accountability debate. Given the constraints that our knowledge of the teaching/learning process is still modest and precludes "hard" generalizations, and that it is extremely difficult to define certain educational experiences in terms of demonstrable outcomes, this paper argues for a greater educational and social awareness that will recognize the controllable and non-controllable factors in education