Changing the Subject: Neoliberalism and Accountability in Public Education

This article examines the relation between the rise of neoliberalism and accountability in education. I argue that the contemporary accountability system of high-stakes standardized tests and privatized school choice is a manifestation of the neoliberal project of cultural reconstruction and moral reform. This study situates neoliberalism in the context of the accountability movement that emerged in the United States around 1970, and examines the implications of the philosophy, culture, and ethos of neoliberalism for educational thought and practice. I argue that resisting neoliberal forms of accountability is crucial, not only to defending the right of students to a genuine and equitable public education, but to refusing the extension of market values and culture to education. I conclude that neoliberal accountability fails to engender the cultural ideals it professes to value, and that this failure makes it possible to challenge the self-evident nature of neoliberal discourse and practices.