Pullin, Diana (2004). Accountability, autonomy, and academic freedom in educator preparation programs. Journal of Teacher Education, 55(4), 300-312.
Don't read this article before bedtime if you are a teacher educator -- and especially not if you are a literacy teacher educator. It's the nightmare of "Big Brother" vs. academic freedom. If the government doesn't restrict what you can teach and how you can teach it, then your university administration will, and the courts will support them. Or maybe not, if you can make the case for your side better than they can theirs, or if your faculty contract contains specific academic freedom protections.
Those of us who do not support NCLB, and are literacy educators with firm beliefs, must tremble these days. A government can privilege one type of research over others and get away with it. A government can mandate only programs that fit one stance and get away with it. A government can mandate a standardized test for teachers (that isn't scientifically based, by the way) that states certain theories as fact and then assesses my and my university's competence on how my students score. What's to stop them from dictating what I teach?
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