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: Ernie the Attorney

We can't admit we don't know if we don't know we don't know

By Ernest Svenson

pWe live in an era of awesome measurability. #0160;We can measure almost anything with great precision, so we do. What never occurs to us is whether in some cases there is any correlation to measuring and predicting.#0160;/pdivTop college quarterbacks, more so than most athletes, are scrutinized in the extreme. #0160;And yet it turns out that there is almost no correlation between the supposedly key measurements and later success in the NFL. #0160;Malcom Gladwell a href=http://calls this/a insidious disconnect between measurement and prediction #39;the quarterback problem.#39; Apparently, this problem also manifests itself in trying to assess who will be a good teacher./divbr /divThe sad truth is that we don#39;t really have a good system for predicting teaching ability. #0160;In fact, some of the best teachers seem to defy conventional approaches to teaching. #0160;The key is to engage students and make them interested in the material. #0160;How do you measure that kind of skill before the person goes into the classroom and starts teaching?/divbr /divInstead of using a #39;gatekeeping approach#39; that attempts to weed out #39;less qualified candidates,#39; we should consider widening the gate, says Gladwell. #0160;quot;We shouldn#39;t be raising [teaching] standards,quot; a href=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/12/15/081215fa_fact_gladwell?yrailhe suggests/a. quot;We should be lowering them, because there is no point in raising standards if standards don#39;t track what we care about. #0160;Teaching should be open to anyone with a pulse and a college degree?and teachers should be judged after they have started their jobs, not before.quot;/divbr /divGladwell#39;s argument is, of course, heresy. The educational system is encrusted with people who only know how to solve problems that are presented in the multiple choice format. #0160;The reason we can#39;t measure teaching skills is that great teachers are creative and creativity is hard to measure. #0160;At least in the form of a standardized test./divbr /divBut enough of this intellectual grandiosity; let#39;s all get out our Number 2 pencils and carefully fill in the proper circles, shall we?/div

Full post as published by Ernie the Attorney on December 18, 2008 (boomark / email).