Part of the issue is how to measure future success? Research is starting to show that qualitative indicators in children are indicative of future successes as much as (or even more than) quantitative test scores. These "qualitative indicators" include things like self-control, delaying gratification, and social skills.
What metrics would you consider good? That is, measurements that accurately predict future successes in life? Reading comprehension and math ability honestly sound like decent metrics to me, but they're clearly not working as intended. What sorts of things do you think we should measure instead? I don't really have any good ideas myself.
Yeah, these are very good questions. It's easy to pick an arbitrary metric that seems like it would measure the right thing, but doesn't.
I usually try to stick to the specific phrasing - what is the test that measures your definition of success, such that if the test passes, success is definitely going up, and if the test fails, success is definitely going down?
Even before that step, part of the problem is that we have to have a definition of success before we can determine how to measure it. Ask people what the goal of the education system is, and you'll get many different responses.
What metrics would you consider good? That is, measurements that accurately predict future successes in life? Reading comprehension and math ability honestly sound like decent metrics to me, but they're clearly not working as intended. What sorts of things do you think we should measure instead? I don't really have any good ideas myself.