Introduction: The issue in perspective

McConney, A. (1998) Introduction: The issue in perspective. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 12 (3). pp. 229-231.

Abstract

This special issue of the Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education grew out of a keynote talk given by Jack Frymier at the Sixth National Evaluation Institute in Indianapolis, titled "Who Is Accountable to Whom and for What?" The main thesis of Frymier's plenary address was that learning is behavior largely managed by and taking place within individuals and so to hold some external agency such as a classroom teacher, groups of teachers, or schools accountable for how much students learn is wrongheaded, legally indefensible, and directly opposite the Western democratic tradition of holding individuals responsible for their own behavior.