The Accountability Strategy read chapter 8 - Article Example

Accountability Strategy Accountability Strategy Develop performance measures for a program of your choice. Develop measures of (1) activities, (2) outputs, (3) outcomes, and (4) efficiency. Be sure to state the program goals, and consider the questions posed in this chapter to get the performance measurement going. In a school, there are numerous tasks going on and there is need to measure the effectiveness of teaching methods used by teachers. As such, for a mathematics class, the objectives of the program usually involve problem-solving skills, development of abstract skills and application of these skills to real life situations.

To measure activities used in teaching mathematics in a school, the most important measure involves imparting new skills thus the need to evaluate the learning resources applied by the teacher. There is also need to assess the amount of time spent in effective instruction and the means used. For example hands-on learning is more effective, thus by this assessment, activities can be measured. In measuring output, keys aspects to look into entail, attendance can be used as a measure since high attendance of the lesson indicates interest, while the outcomes can be measured against the objectives of the lesson, which in this case would be application question in a test depicting real life events.

This is particularly possible in algebra lessons, which are both abstract and applicable. Therefore, effectiveness can be measured using the amount of time spent teaching and this can then be put against the goals and objectives. More time with poor results indicate low efficiency, while less time and better results indicates otherwise. 2. Identify sources for collecting the above data. Is it easy or difficult to gather such information?Collection of information about efficiency, output, outcome and activities can be obtained from official records since all teachers are required to keep records of the work they have taught.

As such, this makes it easy to obtain information unless the data is confidential, as is the case with test scores. If the names of students are not required, then the acquisition of this data becomes fairly easy. 3. Consider some different purposes for using these data. Which purposes are most important for you? How does the purpose affect the choice of performance measure?Collection of data is meant to evaluate effectiveness of methods of teaching and the resources allocated to the teacher, as well as the time taken to teach (Berman, 2006 pg. 150). As a result, the most important aspect of the data is in the learning outcomes, where learning outcomes take centre stage.

This affects the choice of performance measure in that the outcome has to be reflected on most in spite of the purposes overlapping. 4. Examine a range of published output measures, and debate whether they are really accomplishments rather than activities. The difference between accomplishments and activities is narrow as there is activities can be used as indicators of success. As such, accomplishment can be determined directly from activities as seen in this case. The output measures can only be termed as accomplishment as they are representative of the outcomes of the activities engaged to achieve certain goals (Berman, 2006, pg. 220)ReferencesBerman, Evan M. (2006). Performance and productivity and Nonprofit Organizations.

Second Edition. ME. Sharpe