Is Accountability in the Eye of the Beholder?

In the previous post I mentioned that, since we have nearly run out of money (and genuine curiosity) on so many fronts, we have practically abandoned rigorous examinations of programs in search of data to document if not the attainment then at least the approximation of the desired outcomes they project.  I added that in some ways some of us are inclined to take the law, as it were, into our own hands, when it comes to assessing programs, by short circuiting the burdensome and rigorous approaches to comprehensive performance measurement, as depicted in in the following illustration of the Performance Blueprint:

in favor of a cheaper and more convenient approach to assessment based on intuitive, implicit criteria fortified by deeply held convictions, approaches that simplify assessment so that any self-deputized assessor can render “it-either-works-or it-doesn’t” judgments, as depicted in the following illustration:

Then I came across this following video clip of presidential candidate Rick Perry and a moderator.  I apologize; I do not know the origin of this video clip. I do not know the setting, the date, or any other significant aspect of the context.  I am trying hard not to use this as a political statement.  I did transcribe the soundtrack, and I have inserted it into the clip for your convenience.

What I would like to point out by examining this video clip is that it helps us to distinguish between two types of accountability, two countervailing types of accountability.

I prefer an approach to accountability that counts on “science” as a resource and therefore, I expect there to be a quantification of community (external) outcome attainment or approximation.  This can be depicted in the following manner:

If you’ve had the chance to view the video clip, you might wonder whether Gov. Perry is approaching accountability from an entirely different paradigm.  We could spend much more time on this analysis, but I would simply argue that Gov. Perry is counting on “religion” or some other related ideological resource more so than on “science.”  The presence of data supporting an assertion of program failure in relation to community (external) outcome attainment or approximation (state-level teen pregnancy rate) proves to be of little or no significance to Gov. Perry, who maintains that abstinence education is still the best approach (at the beginning of the clip), if not at least well worth the expenditure (by the end of the clip) because it is, after all, the most effective formula for those who believe in it and put it into practice.

Comments?

I’ve included the transcript of the video clip below as well.

TRANSCRIPT:

Moderator:  Let me ask you another one (previously elicited questions) here on a different topic, Governor, why does Texas continue with abstinence education programs when they don’t seem to be working? In fact, I think we have the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the country.

Governor: Abstinence works.

Moderator:  But we are the third highest teen pregnancy, we have the third highest teen pregnancy rate among all states in the country. The questioner’s point is, it doesn’t seem to be working….abstinence education…

Governor:  It…works, ah, maybe it’s… maybe it’s the way it’s being taught or they way it’s being applied out there, but the fact of the matter is… it is the best form of…to teach our children. 

Moderator: Can you -  

Governor: And I’m sorry…

Moderator: …give me a statistic suggesting it works?

Governor:  And the point is, if, … if we’re not teaching it, and if we’re not impressing it upon them, then, no; but if, if, if the point is, you know, we’re gonna go stand up here and say, listen, y’all go have sex and go have the ah whatever is going on, and we’ll worry with that, and here are the, here’s the ways to have safe sex. I’m sorry, you can call me old fashioned, if you want, but I’m not going to stand up in front of the people of the State of Texas and say, that’s the way we need to go and forget about abstinence.

Moderator:  That’s not what the ques, and with respect Governor, that’s not what the questioner was asking, the questioner was simply saying, we’re spending money on abstinence education, we’re the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. Is there a problem, a disconnect between one and the other?

Governor:  I don’t know. Look, it, it., it gets in line with… ah … it gets in line with  other programs that we have that we spend money on, and do they work one hundred percent or do they work five percent? That’s a bigger and a better issue than, well we have the third highest teenage pregnancy rate. Ah, are we, on the amount of money we are spending, are we getting a return on that that is appropriate?

Governor: I think-

Moderator: And your belief is that we are?

Governor:  I think those are some dollars that are well spend.  For instance, we’re spending dollar to check kids for steroids, right? And what’d we find? Seven? Fifteen? And we spend x numbers of ah, Look I’m not…

Moderator:  You think that was a poor expenditure.

Governor:  I am saying that if, no I’m trying to make a comparable here, if that’s (steroid program) a good expenditure, then I would suggest to you the dollars we’re spending on abstinence education is a good expenditure.