New report on educational productivity: a waste of resources?
Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post
You can’t argue with the general notion of a new report by the nonprofit Center for American Progress that some school districts waste money and shouldn’t. Any teachers who spends their own money to buy erasers and notebooks for their students know that. Beyond that, I’m trying to figure out what else of great value is in the report released Wednesday, which is, perhaps ironically called “Return on Educational Investment,” and which was a year in the making. The details district-by-district how much school systems spend and what they get in terms of student achievement for their money. Student achievement, in this case, is measured by standardized test scores, which, any reader of this blog knows, is not a valid indicator for any high-stakes decision. That would include whether a school district is getting a bang for its buck. I'm not much of a fan of framing the educational enterprise through a business model, either, but let's pretend it's a good idea for now. (more…)