Accountability. Assessment.–Two of the watchwords of the new millennium in higher education. Surely it has escaped no one's notice that the push for accountability that crept through secondary education during the previous decade has now arrived at the doorstep of higher education with its big brother, assessment, in tow. University faculty are now informed that in order to be responsible educators they must teach students so that they perform well on standardized, nationally-normed tests; the value of the degrees awarded by their institutions rides on their students' ability to succeed on such assessment exams.

While the debate rages on concerning the efficacy of spending large amounts of time and money teaching to and then administering standardized, nationally normed assessment exams, this short essay investigates a related, although often overlooked, question: what does it mean to be accountable in the age of digital labor? As the nature and conditions of labor change in the post-work age of digital labor, the assessment tactics of higher education must change as well. If we are to be accountable to our students-turned-workers, mustn't we assess the survival skills demanded by the conditions of digital labor?

In this short essay, I explore the ways in which the modes of thinking assessed by standardized exams diverge from the modes of thinking demanded by the digital labor market and reflect on our responsibilities as educators to assess our students' preparation for that market in a responsible way. How might we be accountable to this newly forming labor market? What skills should we be teaching? How can we assess those skills in an efficacious and equitable manner? If the methods and measures we currently employ run counter to the modes of thinking our students-turned-workers must be proficient in to survive on the digital labor market, we put ourselves in the position of being not only unaccountable, but irresponsible educators.