Abstract
This chapter examines the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation project, Measures of Effective Teaching [MET]. The chapter synthesizes current research on philanthrocapitalism to highlight some implications of current trends in funding for educational research. The MET project was a massive Three-year, $45 million undertaking. It studied six school districts and 3000 teachers in the United States, collected digital video of 13,000 classroom lessons, administered surveys to students, and tracked student scores on two separate tests in efforts to stipulate the parameters of effective teaching. Reports from the MET project publicized research results about how effective teaching might be defined and measured. MET project analyses and conclusions were published in scholarly academic venues, policy briefs, and popular media from 2010 through 2013. Issues of philanthrocapitalism in educational research include the establishment of an incestuous plutocracy, the conduct of educational research in a shadow economy, the promotion of the special interests of private wealthy donors, and shifts in the terms of debate about educational issues for research in the public interest.
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Notes
- 1.
According to the U.S. Constitution, education belongs in the jurisdiction of individual states, and so it is technically illegal to initiate or enforce educational reform at a national/federal level. The CCSS are meant to apply nationally, but (as the name implies) all educational policies must be adopted and implemented at the state level.
- 2.
Most objections to the CCSS come from the U.S. Right on the grounds that CCSS constitutes big government interference with education, which belongs rightfully to individual states. Some objections come from the U.S. Left on the grounds that education decision-making should not be driven by private money , but by elected officials.
- 3.
VAM is actually calculated by comparing the actual test score relative to the statistically predicted test score.
- 4.
- 5.
Thanks to Ethan Hutt for raising this point.
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Samantha Caughlan and Sarah Reckhow for sharing their expertise with me in conversations about the MET Project. Thank you to Cori McKenzie for comments on writing. I assume responsibility for any errors and misrepresentations.
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Fendler, L. (2018). The Gates Foundation MET Research Project As a Case of Philanthrocapitalism. In: Smeyers, P., Depaepe, M. (eds) Educational Research: Ethics, Social Justice, and Funding Dynamics. Educational Research, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73921-2_16
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