A feedback view of behavioural distortions from perceived public service gaps at ‘street-level’ policy implementation: The case of unintended outcomes in public schools

This paper discusses the limitations and risks associated with the use of output-oriented measures to assess public school performance. In particular, it questions the capability of the performance measures set by external institutions, with respect to schools, to support sustainable educational outcomes. To this end, the ‘street-level bureaucracy’ theory is used in the paper as a basis to analyse the behavioural distortions generated by perceived public service gaps at school level policy implementation. Such unintended behavioural effects are often a major cause of disappointing outcomes when test-based accountability systems are adopted. In the second part of the paper, an insight model referred to a hypothetic medium-sized public school located in a poor area in Colombia is used to illustrate how a feedback approach to school performance measurement can support decision-makers to pursue sustainable education outcomes and to prevent behavioural distortions from perceived public service gaps at ‘street-level’ policy implementation. This analysis outlines an alternative approach to school performance measurement that might help policy makers in extending the domain of governmental benchmarks to performance measures and collaborative efforts that reflect the challenges of holistic education in the context where public schools are located.