Why Do Agencies Underinvest in Evidence?

This post originally appeared on Brookings.edu.

In the United States, we entrust state and local leaders to make most consequential decisions affecting schools.  It’s ironic, then, that the federal government funds most of the research and evaluation work in education.  State and local leaders bear a responsibility to study the consequences of their decisions.  We will make much faster progress when they do.

At this very moment, chief academic officers around the country are choosing professional development providers to prepare teachers for the Common Core.  Districts are choosing curricula.  Why can’t we provide them with better evidence to guide their choices?  Or, at the very least, why can’t we compare the 2014-15 gains for those making different choices now, so that we have a clearer view of what worked going into the 2015-16 school year?  Otherwise, we will continue reinventing the wheel.  School leaders need to get out of the wheel reinvention business.

Basic research into teaching and learning is rightly considered a federal responsibility.   If the federal government were not to fund it, no one would.  However, evaluation research is different.  In business and in everyday life, we expect decision-makers to perform due diligence: to launch small demonstration programs before any large-scale rollout, to track the impact of new policies and to make course corrections when the results are disappointing.  The responsibility to evaluate rests with those making the decisions.  That’s where the evidence will have the greatest impact. ...

To read the complete article, visit Brookings.edu.