Immediate Gratification And Education Policy
A couple of months ago, Bill Gates said something that received a lot of attention. With regard to his foundation’s education reform efforts, which focus most prominently on teacher evaluations, but encompass many other areas, he noted, “we don’t know if it will work.” In fact, according to Mr. Gates, “we won’t know for probably a decade.”
He’s absolutely correct. Most education policies, including (but not limited to) those geared toward shifting the distribution of teacher quality, take a long time to work (if they do work), and the research assessing these policies requires a great deal of patience. Yet so many of the most prominent figures in education policy routinely espouse the opposite viewpoint: Policies are expected to have an immediate, measurable impact (and their effects are assessed in the crudest manner imaginable).
A perfect example was the reaction to the recent release of results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Several state and district educational agency leaders (not to mention dozens of advocates) were quick to attribute increases in average scores to recent policy changes. This is, I suppose, predictable – these are highly politicized offices, and one might expect their incumbents to take every opportunity to score points. It is, however, unbecoming of their important positions, and does a disservice to the public.
Some of the worst commentary this year came from the editorial boards of the nation’s largest newspapers. In particular, the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal all published editorials that could easily