Consensus through accountability? The benefits and drawbacks of building community with accountability

Scott, Tony (2005). Consensus through accountability? The benefits and drawbacks of building community with accountability. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 49(1), 48-59.


Many emotions surged through me as I read this account of how Kentucky public schools have implemented a standardized state writing portfolio and how that portfolio has standardized Kentucky's writing curriculum. At first, anger surged within me. Scott seemed to be supporting this type of one-size-fits-all assessment, singing its praises, talking about "community" and "consensus" and "collaboration," when all I could see was compliance, acquiescence, and non-questioning acceptance of one model for writing and one model for assessing. Perhaps I'm reacting more strongly than usual because of a recent across-the-board mandate on our campus for "core assessments" for each course, scored using a one-size-fits-all, very bad rubric. I hope Kentucky at least has a good rubric. But Scott eventually got to the point. Regardless of some good that can come from standardized assessment (note that at least it isn't a test), the cost is high in a greatly reduced student sense of ownership for writing -- it became the property of the teachers.