A metric is only useful as a metric when it isn't used as a metric

What will happen when teachers are systematically rewarded or punished based on standardized tests? asks Eduardo Porter in The New York Times. The design of any system must be carefully thought through to avoid sending incentives astray, since people -- wittingly or unwittingly -- goose numbers once a measure is set up. The phenomenon is known as Goodhart's Law, though one economist calls it…

Coming soon: A larger gap in achievement scores

The Common Core was rolled out with promises of closing learning and achievement gaps, but in the short term, gaps will almost certainly grow wider, writes Tara García Mathewson for The Hechinger Report. The gap in scores between disadvantaged students and peers has already ballooned in Illinois, New York, and Kentucky, all of which launched early versions of aligned exams. In Illinois, the achievement gap…

The Common Core: promises, promises

In 2010, plans for Common Core-aligned tests were introduced with fanfare and promises they'd end dumbed-down, multiple-choice tests and weeks of mindless prepping, writes Emmanuel Felton for McClatchy. They'd bring coherence to a mishmash of state exams and allow states for the first time to compare local students to peers elsewhere. Their online format would make testing more efficient, accurate, and relevant to the…

The absurd insistence on a four-year degree

It's an absurdity that a four-year college degree has become the only gateway into the American middle class, writes Robert Reich for The Christian Science Monitor. Not every young person is suited to four years of college: They may be bright and ambitious, but would get little out of it and would rather be doing something else, like making money or painting murals. Yet they feel compelled since they've been told…