EDUCATION AND URBAN SOCIETY / February 2001 Opfer / THE PANOPTIC EFFECT OF ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER SCHOOLS AND THE PANOPTIC EFFECT OF ACCOUNTABILITY V. DARLEEN OPFER Georgia State University In Georgia, like many states in the United States, charter schools are touted as a reform effort that can significantly alter how education is conducted (“Good Report Card,” 1998; “State Charter School Law,” 1995). It is believed that the flexibility given to charter schools will allow them to be more innovative in their pedagogical and curricular approaches (Meyers, 1998; Stepp, 1999), and that this innovation will result in improved student achievement (“Education Needs,” 1998; “Good Report Card,” 1998; Stepp, 1999). This gain in student performance has yet to materialize in Georgia. According to the Georgia State Department of Education’s annual report Charter Schools, 1999 (2000), “The academic performance of schools that have operated as charter schools for three to four years has varied” (p. 6). In some cases, the charter schools show steady improvement on Georgia’s test- ing program. In just as many other cases, charter schools have declining achievement. This decline in student performance is troubling, considering that these charter schools have a higher percentage of gifted students, a lower percentage of economically disadvantaged students, and more parental involvement than most other Georgia schools (Georgia State Department of Education, 2000). In discussing why charter schools in Georgia cannot meet expectations as a method for reforming education, Governor Roy Barnes uses a business analogy: Twenty years ago both Ford and General Motors were broke. Both realized they had to do something big, fast. Ford chose to remake itself from the bottom up while GM decided they would start themselves a charter school program AUTHOR’S NOTE: I would like to thank Ben Scafidi for sharing charter schools information with me. EDUCATION AND URBAN SOCIETY, Vol. 33 No. 2, February 2001 201-215 © 2001 Corwin Press, Inc. 201