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Oregon education reform: Clues to the success of overachieving schools lie in the data

Posted on August 15, 2012 in Education by Ann Hollingshead

In a recent op-ed in the Oregonian, ECONorthwest economists and analysts John Tapogna, Andrew Dyke, and Bryce Ward offer insights into education reform.

This week John Tapogna, ECONorthwest president and senior policy analyst, Andrew Dyke, senior economist, and Bryce Ward, senior economist, published the opinion piece "Oregon education reform: Clues to the success of overachieving schools lie in the data" in the Oregonian. It reads:

Slumping revenue and aging facilities. Disappointing results and tougher competition.

That's where Billy Beane found the Oakland A's in October 2001. Conventional wisdom would have moved the franchise to a more lucrative locale, or easier yet, shut the team down.

But as recounted in Michael Lewis' "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game," Beane reinvented the game. Diving deep into data, his bean counters discovered how games were won and recruited unconventional players to win them. They slapped singles, took walks, stole bases and turned the A's into persistent overachievers. During 2002-2012, they rank ninth on wins and 24th on payroll.

With schools set to open next month, Oregon's new education chief, Rudy Crew, faces a challenge similar to Beane's circa 2001. The state is coming off a disappointing decade: virtually no gains on national achievement exams. Revenue is weak, pension costs are rising and facilities are uninspiring.

The rest of the piece is available here.

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John Tapogna is President of ECONorthwest and oversees the firm's overall business strategy and operations. Since his arrival at ECONorthwest in 1997, Tapogna has built practices in education, healthcare, human service, and tax policy. Dr. Andrew Dyke specializes in economic analysis, labor economics, and social policy; and Dr. Bryce Ward specializes in natural resource and labor economics.