This article originally appeared in the fall 2026 issue of TASA INSIGHT. Georgeanne Warnock is superintendent of Terrell ISD and was a member of the Visioning Refresh Writing Team that developed The Texas Promise.
Accountability is not simply a system imposed upon schools. It is also a reflection of what leaders choose to value.
For years, public education has operated within accountability systems dominated by easily quantified outcomes — test scores, ratings, graduation rates, and other important metrics. These measures matter, but they were never intended to tell the entire story of a student, a classroom, or a school community. Article 5 of The Texas Promise: A Vision for Public Education challenges us to build something broader: accountability systems grounded in shared leadership, holistic growth, and future readiness.
That begins with a leadership choice.
We can comply with required measures while also asking better questions. Are our students growing academically from where they began? Do they feel known, valued, and connected to their school? Are they learning to collaborate, communicate, solve problems, and persevere? Are they discovering their strengths and interests? When they leave us, are they prepared not simply to graduate, but to navigate college, a career, military service, citizenship, relationships, and life?
Those outcomes may be more difficult to place on a dashboard, but that does not make them less important. Therefore, we must broaden our definition of accountability.
Broadening accountability means broadening who helps define success. Article 5 calls for communities and educators to codesign fair and transparent accountability systems. That requires leaders to listen — to students, teachers, families, employers, and community members — and to build measures that reflect the aspirations a community holds for its children.
This is not an argument for less accountability. It’s an argument for more meaningful accountability. It’s not about lowering expectations. It’s about raising them.
Leadership means refusing to allow the measures we are given to become the limits of what we value. We can meet state expectations while simultaneously creating local systems that illuminate student growth, celebrate belonging, identify areas for improvement, and demonstrate whether our graduates are truly ready for what comes next.
MORE LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVESUltimately, what we choose to measure communicates what we believe matters. Our responsibility as leaders is to ensure that the story we tell about our schools is as rich, complex, and full of possibility as the students we serve.
