Neither accountability nor autonomy is enough, in other words, because both arguments subscribe to the myth of the natural-born teacher. In both cases, the assumption is that good teachers know what to do to help their students learn. These good teachers should either be allowed to do their jobs or be held accountable for not doing them, and they will perform better. Both arguments, finally, rest on a feeble bet: that the average teacher will figure out how to become an expert teacher—alone.
