Evaluating the Effects of Educational Policies

Abstract

This thesis focuses on identifying educational policies that work. This is important for several reasons. First, recent experience has shown us that the introduction of new policy measures has not always been a clear success. The parliamentary investigation committee on education reform, chaired by the current Dutch Minister of Finance Jeroen Dijsselbloem, evaluated some of the most significant educational policy changes in the Netherlands in the 1990s.1 The committee concluded that the Dutch government had neglected its task to ensure the provision of high-quality education (Parliamentary investigation committee on education reform, 2008). Among other things, the committee noted the implementation of several - potentially counteracting - changes at the same time, policy choices that were chiefly based on financial motives, and the lack of a thorough problem analysis and scientific foundation that legitimized the reforms. One of the advices for future improvement concerns the use of policy evaluations to scientifically validate new measures. The committee recommends implementing a new policy instrument on a small scale first to assess its impact in case it lacks the necessary scientific basis.