Volatile Knowing Parents, Teachers, and the Censored Story of Accountability in America's Public Schools

Volatile Knowing refers to the potential for positive change that can result when parents and teachers discuss the politics and policies of externally defined accountability mandates in education. Kaia Tollefson tells the story of twelve teachers and parents who breached the unofficial but deeply inscribed home-school divide to discuss the current accountability-for-uniformity movement that has overtaken the nation's educational agenda at federal, state, and local levels. This kind of volatile knowing offers hope that-together-parents and teachers can ignite a new child-centered movement for accountability and creativity in America's public schools.

Kaia Tollefson is assistant professor of education at California State University Channel Islands.