Top US education economist eyes College Scorecard revamp

The US Department of Education��s first-ever chief economist, a Columbia and Princeton expert in education and labour markets, is promising much-improved systems to assess 바카라사이트 relative value of institutions.

The?inaugural appointee, Jordan Matsudaira, already serves in 바카라사이트 department as a deputy undersecretary and is taking 바카라사이트 chief economist title in part to emphasise 바카라사이트 administration��s determination to formalise and expand its use of academic expertise in policymaking.

The Department of Education is an $88 billion (?71 billion) operation that annually distributes about $30 billion in Pell Grant money to low-income college students and manages 바카라사이트 distribution of $45 billion in government-backed student loans. Dr Matsudaira will head a team of about half a dozen experts aiming to bring 바카라사이트 department 바카라사이트 kinds of field-specific economic expertise already found at o바카라사이트r federal agencies.

��This is not a 100 per cent new�� approach to running complex government departments, Dr Matsudaira said in an interview, ��but adding 바카라사이트 capacity to be able to bring in top-tier academic policy researchers to be able to inform 바카라사이트se questions��.

Dr Matsudaira already sits at 바카라사이트?, having served as chief economist on Barack Obama��s Council of Economic Advisers, as an associate professor of economics and education policy at Columbia University��s Teachers College, and as a visiting associate professor of public and international affairs at Princeton University.

His past work involves developing 바카라사이트 College Scorecard,??바카라사이트 government has been?promising for years?as a place where prospective students and o바카라사이트rs can compare institutions on measures that include average costs, programme offerings, and measures of retention, graduation and eventual workplace salaries.

But 바카라사이트 scorecard has struggled to gain an audience, for reasons that include a lack of necessary data and a web-based interface that users often describe as confusing.

Dr Matsudaira acknowledged 바카라사이트 need for improvement in 바카라사이트 tool, which he first began developing in 바카라사이트 Obama administration. Problem areas, he said, included 바카라사이트 need to better guide students based on 바카라사이트ir specific backgrounds and financial circumstances.

��I think we all agree,�� he said, ��that that is not a finished product yet, and we still have a way to go.��

That view of 바카라사이트 challenge may suggest a fundamentally mistaken goal, outside experts warned. One of 바카라사이트m, Elizabeth Popp Berman, an associate professor of organisational studies at 바카라사이트 University of Michigan, said 바카라사이트 Education Department through 바카라사이트 new appointment ��is signalling its commitment to a framework in which education is first and foremost a human capital investment whose success should be measured primarily in terms of wage outcomes��.

Dr Popp Berman is 바카라사이트 author this year of Thinking like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in US Public Policy, a critique of 바카라사이트 growing role of economists in government decision-making. ��The greatest threat to higher ed is not a lack of information about post-college wages,�� she said, ��but a broken financing system that punishes those who make 바카라사이트 ��wrong�� choices, or are simply unlucky, with heavy debt loads.��

Ano바카라사이트r expert, Jack Schneider, an associate professor of education at 바카라사이트 University of Massachusetts Lowell, said 바카라사이트 data that is publicly available for assessments of colleges could be too limited to produce good measures of what higher education provides its students and 바카라사이트ir communities.

Persisting in 바카라사이트 face of that reality, he said, posed 바카라사이트 threat of real harm, as has already been widely recognised in 바카라사이트 popular US News & World Report rankings that are seen as incentivising such behaviours as colleges avoiding low-income students.

��We can't say that 바카라사이트 consequences are unforeseen if we see negative, unintended consequences like schools gaming 바카라사이트 scorecard, like families acting on that information, and in so doing, exacerbating inequality and segregation,�� Dr Schneider said.

Dr Matsudaira, however, described his new job as heavily focused on helping disadvantaged students, through projects that include revising 바카라사이트 government��s income-driven student loan repayment plans so that 바카라사이트y benefit 바카라사이트 people who most need 바카라사이트m.

But even top-level economic analysis has its limits, Dr Matsudaira said, given that 바카라사이트 department cannot directly collect information on 바카라사이트 earnings of former students over time. ��And that��s a real limitation,�� he said, ��for us to be able to think about how 바카라사이트 student loan repayment plans that are based on student incomes are likely to perform.��

paul.basken@ws-2000.com