The Alignment Problem

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” – Goodhart’s Law

“The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor” – Campbell’s Law

How should we structure measurement such that it leads to improved classroom instruction? Think holistically and systemically:

• How does measurement skew incentives for school administrators? For teachers?
• How are parents and voters influenced by measures in a democracy?
• What sorts of measurements can help teachers manage classrooms in-the-moment? Which sorts of measures hurt?
• How do measures influence how students behave?

How would we guarantee that a new initiative in this space would create measurements aligned with what you came up with? What are the market forces here? How can we set up systems to overcome them?