Leaps of Logic and Sleights of Hand: The Misuse of Educational Research In Policy Debates
Did the New York Times sensationalize its account of an analysis of value-added measures of teacher performance it recently featured on its front page, misleading its readers about its policy implications? Have commentators such as the Times’ own Nicholas Kristof and bloggers such as Ed Sector’s Kevin Carey seized upon the Times’ misleading narrative to confirm pre-existing policy biases, rather than do their own careful reading of what is universally acknowledged to be a rather complex study? Was Mayor Bloomberg’s cynical useof the analysis and Kristof’s column in his State of the City address to teacher bash and union bash, as he cited them to justify his mass closure of PLA schools and his refusal to negotiate meaningful appeals of ineffective ratings, not the logical conclusion of this misrepresentation of educational research?
An email exchange I had with one of the co-authors of the study, Raj Chetty of Harvard, provides interesting evidence that the answer to all of these questions is yes.
Chetty sent me an unsolicited email as a result of a post I wrote here on Edwize. In my comments, I had noted