Black Leaders and the Rise of Educational Accountability in Urban Schools,1965–1983: Endorse,Adapt,Resist

Abstract

In this conceptual study, we examined ways in which Black educational leaders responded to the nascent rise of widespread educational accountability in the 1960s and 1970s. In conducting our research, we used history research methods in investigating contemporary historical sources, including publications by the leaders whom we examined. We also considered secondary accounts generated by historians and other scholars who studied the rise of accountability in the U.S. We found that some Black leaders endorsed the use of test-based accountability, while others sought to adapt accountability systems to better engage Black communities. Still others became outspoken critics of culturally biased tests. In essence, Black leaders during the time period pursued three approaches to test-based educational accountability: endorse and apply; alter and adapt; or critique and resist. Though these categories help us conceptualize how Black leaders approached educational accountability issues in the 1960s and 1970s, the historical actors could and did cross categorical boundaries, as we discuss in the final section of our findings. In our analysis, we discuss how accountability was both subject to and helped reify White Innocence, which continues to have a pervasive influence in U.S. educational policy. We conclude by considering how understanding the history we have described might impact current efforts to serve Black students better.