Nate Silver has raised questions in the past about some practices done in the name of teacher accountability, and has also made other good points about education issues.

Today, The Atlantic published an interview they did with him where he said nothing at all about education, while saying everything about it at the same time.

He was asked a question about “magic bullet strategies” and focused his response on the “broken windows” theory of policing.

Read this excerpt from what he said (though you should read the entire Atlantic piece), and replace “broken windows” with “teacher accountability measures, including Value-Added Measurement” and replace “police” with “school reformers” and I think you’ve got a pretty good analogy. VAM and its ilk are much more easily done and measured than the other genuine problems facing schools, teachers, students and their families. Little research supports much of what is being pushed in the name of “teacher accountability,” and the ultimate result, like broken windows, can be more negative outcomes for everybody:

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