Hanushek, Eric A.

Autor: Hanushek, Eric A.
Rok: 1943-

Biogr./Hist. údaje: Americký ekonom a vysokoškolský pedagog zaměřený na ekonomiku vzdělávání.
Zdroj: Autoritní databáze Národní knihovny ČR

Eric Alan Hanushek (born May 22, 1943) is an economist who has written prolifically on public policy with a special emphasis on the economics of education. Since 2000 he has been a Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, an American public policy think tank located at Stanford University in California.Hanushek received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Air Force Academy in 1965 and a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1961 to 1974. Hanushek held teaching positions at the U.S. Air Force Academy (1968–73) and at Yale University (1975–78) and was named professor of economics and public policy at the University of Rochester from 1978–2000.Hanushek advocates using economic analysis to in order to improve student performance. He has authored numerous, highly cited articles on the effects of class size reduction, high-stakes accountability, teacher effectiveness, and other education related topics. In a 1971 paper he introduced the concept of evaluating teacher effectiveness on the basis of student learning gains. This idea is the basis of value-added assessments of teacher quality. In his most recent book, The Knowledge Capital of Nations, Hanushek concludes that the quality of education is causally related to economic growth.He states that his findings show no systematic relationship between the amount of money spent in an American school and the amount of student learning in a given district, and therefore he generally opposes increases in school funding to achieve overall reductions in class size, for example. For this reason he is associated, especially by his detractors, with the slogan "money doesn't matter". Hanushek explains his position this way:The discussion whether school resources are systematically related to school quality and to school achievement has tended toward a battle of slogans “Money matters” or “Money doesn’t matter.” ... It is tautological to say that we will get good performance if we spend the money wisely. Today the existing knowledge base does not ensure that any added funds will, on average, be spent wisely. That is true even if some schools may spend their funds wisely. As an alternative to increasing funding for public schools as a way to boost student performance, Hanushek recommends holding schools accountable and assessing teacher effectiveness.Hanushek is a frequent contributor to the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal and also appears frequently in court cases as a paid expert witness testifying for the state in lawsuits brought by plaintiffs attempting to equalize disparities in funding of school districts.