World Bank on Education

A World Bank report entitled "Education Quality and Economic Growth" argues that smart kids earn more and that better teachers, accountability, and school choice improve cognitive skills. The report found that if you give poor African or Asian children teachers who are held accountable for the students' performance and you give the students some choice in selecting schools, the students will perform better.

Strangely, these same arguments applied to our own education system evoke hostility. We're told teachers can't be fairly evaluated so there's no way to hold them accountable. We're told school choice won't improve anything.  We're told equalized and excessive state controlled spending is the answer. We're told what to do with very little local control. Do you suppose the World Bank's recommendations really only work in third world countries? Or, might they also apply to Vermont and elsewhere? Download the report and decide for yourself -- and do it soon before the World Bank finds out we're taking it out of context to make libertarian arguments.

"Schooling has not delivered fully on its promise as the driver of economic success. Expanding school attainment, at the center of most development strategies, has not guaranteed better economic conditions. What’s been missing is attention to the quality of education—ensuring that students actually learn. There is strong evidence that the cognitive skills of the population, rather than mere school enrollment, are powerfully related to individual earnings, to the distribution of income, and to economic growth."
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"Policies aimed at increasing cognitive skills have themselves been disappointing. An emphasis on providing more resources while retaining the fundamental structure of schools has not had general success. On the other hand, one consistent finding emerging from research is that teacher quality strongly influences student outcomes. Just adding resources does not have much effect on teacher quality."

"There is growing evidence that changing the incentives in schools has an impact. Accountability systems based upon tests of student cognitive achievement can change the incentives for both school personnel and for students. By focusing attention on the true policy goal—instead of imperfect proxies based on inputs to schools— performance can be improved. These systems align rewards with outcomes. Moreover, increased local decision making or local autonomy, coupled with accountability, can facilitate these improvements. There is also suggestive evidence that greater school choice promotes better performance."