Current accountability reform places too much faith in the power of incentives and hence many metrics (not only teacher effectiveness and not only the NYC accou

Current accountability reform places too much faith in the power of incentives and hence many metrics (not only teacher effectiveness and not only the NYC accountability system) are not directed to offering any sort of guidance towards improving schools. The NYC Progress Reports, which give schools grades, are another prime example of this. Personally, I hope that the next stage in accountability will see a shift to making the data more actionable from the perspective of practitioners and it is something I have been encouraging for a few years. I think part of the obstacle, though perhaps not the primary one, is the criticism that measurements are not accurate. So given the option of re-thinking how to make actionable reports or measurements vs. just improving what exists (via extending and revising statistical methods, refining business rules, improving data quality, and including additional data sources) the latter is winning out even in areas where there may be diminishing returns to doing this. On the other hand, one could argue that the issue of how to improve the schools is addressed by other projects or other areas in the system, and it sufficient for these tools just to make clear and accurate evaluations. We are dealing with a big problem, both in terms of depth and significance. So there is room to approach this from many angles. Regarding the issue of making the data public (i.e. Gates' Op Ed), there are competing values at play. Yes, it will be misused and some folks will be unfairly hurt. I would rather have data public (not just the teacher effectiveness data), and allow everyone the option to create there own diverse conclusions, perform their own analyses (like the one linked to), and as a society we can become more sophisticated and knowledgeable about these issues. The alternative is that the only people that will has access to this data is bureaucrats with a specific policy agenda and a handful of academics. Broader society, especially parents, has a right to weigh-in on these issues and be a part of this discussion and they cannot do this effectively without open data. To reiterate, I don't want technocrats driving education (that is part of the broader problem with current reform); hopefully open data such as this can limit that. The solution is to do a better job of disclosing the information and providing the necessary context rather than just hide it. NYTimes did a pretty sweet job in this respect . I like where they are going with schoolbook. I would like to see the media and public consistently push government for better open data. Right now that is not happening, and agencies are not going to make big changes in this area in the absence of that pressure.