Why didn't this program aimed at boosting teacher effectiveness help students?


The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's teacher-evaluation reform initiative failed to generate the expected improvements in student performance, according to a recent study published by RAND. Critics point to the program's singular focus on teacher improvement as a reason for its shortcomings. Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute summarizes, "It was an expensive experiment, but it was a reasonable hypothesis. ... For good or bad, we've learned a lot."

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