A Complete, Coherent, & Practical Theory on Trust, School Accountability & What Can be Done to Right a Great Wrong in Our Lifetimes

Jan 2025

Want to Understand What’s Really Wrong With Accountability—and How to Fix It?

This paper offers the clearest picture yet of how educational accountability ended up where it is today—and, more importantly, how we can change it.

You’ll discover:

• Why other professions evolved accountability into a truth-telling, trust-building discipline of leadership

• How those same conditions have been blocked in education

• What it takes to break that cycle—starting now

The most surprising takeaway? You don’t need permission, and you don’t need a policy change.

You just need to see it clearly—and lead.

If you care about students, communities, or the future of the profession, this is a must-read.

What Standardized Testing is and all the Things it is Not

Feb 2024

What If Everything You’ve Been Told About Testing and Accountability Is Wrong?

For decades, standardized testing and school accountability have been treated as one and the same.

So much so that most districts have a Director of Assessment and Accountability—as if the two were naturally connected.

But they’re not.

This paper unpacks the deep flaw at the heart of that assumption—and the enormous consequences it’s had for students, schools, and the profession.

This isn’t an anti-test rant.

It’s a clear-eyed look at how standardized tests—originally designed as research tools—have been misused to do something they were never built to do: judge effectiveness.

The good news? Once you understand what tests can and can’t do, you’ll see a path forward—one that frees you from decades of confusion and bad policy.

This is the paper you’ll wish someone had handed you years ago.