Toward a “Hard” Metric for Educational Utility

Abstract

Education is far too costly an enterprise to operate without precise indicators of the successes and consequences of educational interventions. Unfortunately, many educational economists and educators have resisted measuring the societal impacts of educational programs, options, and interventions because a reliable and valid metric did not exist for those consequences. This article explores alternatives to the metrics utilized thus far in measuring the individually oriented “preferences” used in the conceptualization of utility, and argues that a “hard” metric which would either monetize or impute monetary values for both individual and social outcomes is both possible and useful. A hard metric is one that is independently verifiable based upon values attributed to results. While any such metric will be both imperfect and controversial, we suggest that it is more desirable to attempt its development than to take the greater risk of pretending that one is not possible. Three alternative (and related) types of educational results are suggested: products, outputs, and outcomes. Possible results-oriented indicators for each are suggested. These will serve as a basis for developing a useful hard metric for educational utility.