Last year the Education Department announced that math and reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress had declined since 2013. Though the decline was small (and not much to worry about), the announcement ruined the Obama administration’s case that its education policies were vindicated by rising scores. Now a new report from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has questioned the efficacy of one of the most consequential of those policies – the “Race to the Top” grants.
If we could cut spending on medicine in half and probably still be as healthy, it seems we could cut education by 90% and not notice any difference. Combined, that’s most of the budget for many states.
The depressing thing is that this is not a ‘frameworks of interpretation’ problem at all. Psychometrics and educational assessment are real, mature, empirical sciences. The combined results of countless studies have been coming back the same way for several generations. The corroborations from genetics are as clear and solid as ever. No matter to policy, apparently.
The purpose of the most elite academics in our system is not to produce or act on truth or solve problems, but to concoct abstruse rationalizations for a predetermined political agenda, like ancient priests sanctifying a course of action by proclaiming it the will of the gods (which only they can auger, of course).
You can’t:
1) Cheer on an Average is Over world
2) Tell most people they are Average and therefore its a waste to spend educational resources on them
Remember when all those politicians said it was OK the factory went to China because everyone is going to go to college and become a computer programmer. So long as being in the bottom 80% sucks, people will seek to be in the top 20%, whether they have the chops for it or not. What’s the alternative?