Why “Evidence-Based” Education Fails
EducationDec 19, 2011
How did the largest and most aggressive federal education initiative, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), garner bipartisan support under George W. Bush, and how have the central tenants of that legislation—accountability, standards, and testing—maintained and increased their value as approaches to education reform despite the tremendous evidence that they do not work?
One answer may lie in the power of claims that NCLB and the accountability paradigm are “evidence-based,” scientific, and thus objective (as objectivity has endured as a central aspect of authority in the American mind for at least a century).
Two parts of this possible answer deserve some consideration: (1) Are evidence-based scientific approaches objective, effective, or both? and (2) If so, why does science fail education reform?
Scientific Education Reform: A Historical Perspective
Before examining how science as a term and concept functions in the