Once policymakers have signed on to an initiative, they are not looking for evidence that they’ve committed to the wrong program. Using NCLB as an example, Whitehurst explained that once NCLB was passed, the Department of Education necessarily had to shift from being a buyer to a seller of education policy. A series of complex policy decisions had to be made – i.e. establishing subgroup size and the percentage of students who could sit for alternate assessments. Whitehurst’s point was that the sweet spot of policymaking is where people are uncertain and uncommitted. Policymakers like to have the weight of research behind them, and it’s most effective to offer advice before they’ve publicly commented about the issue.
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