Jonah Rockoff Testifies at NJBOE: Part I
I've been given a remarkable piece of audio that I think has to be shared widely. Jonah Rockoff, a professor of finance and economics, testified at the New Jersey State Board of Education this past Wednesday on the topic of teacher evaluation.
There is no arguing with Dr. Rockoff's academic qualifications or intellect; still, it speaks volumes about where we are in our education debate that an economics professor is brought before the NJBOE as an expert in education policy. As Bruce Baker says:
There is no arguing with Dr. Rockoff's academic qualifications or intellect; still, it speaks volumes about where we are in our education debate that an economics professor is brought before the NJBOE as an expert in education policy. As Bruce Baker says:
Behavioral economics is an interesting and potentially useful field of academic inquiry. At its best, real behavioral economics attempts to address some of the concerns I raise here. But many if not most assumptions about human behavior and response to incentives are not representative of behavioral economics at its best.
Specifically, I’m increasingly concerned with what I see as the simple-minded projection of economic thinking onto everyone and anyone