Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Insights: The Risks of Dangerous Dashboards in Basic Education
Large bureaucracies prefer to work to specify process compliance and inputs, then measure those as a means of driving performance
Abstract
A metaphoric comparison between airplane dashboards and dashboards for basic education: The way large bureaucracies prefer to work is to specify process compliance and inputs and then measure those as a means of driving performance. This logistical mode of managing an organization works best when both process compliance and inputs are easily 鈥渙bservable鈥� in the economist鈥檚 sense of easily verifiable, contractible, adjudicated. This leads to attention to processes and inputs that are 鈥渢hin鈥�. So in education one would specify easily-observable inputs like textbook availability, class size, school infrastructure. Even if one were talking about 鈥渜uality鈥� of schooling, a large bureaucracy would want this too reduced to 鈥渢hin鈥� indicators, like the fraction of teachers with a given type of formal degree, or process compliance measures, like whether teachers were hired based on some formalassessment. Those involved in schooling can then become assessed with their dashboards and the 鈥渢hin鈥� progress that is being tracked, and easily ignore the loud warning signal saying: Stall!
This work is part of the Department for International Development鈥檚 鈥楻esearch on Improving Systems of Education鈥� (RISE) Programme.
Citation
Pritchett, L (2018). The Risks of Dangerous Dashboards in Basic Education. Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Insights
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