Per my earlier post, here's yet another example, from economist Steven Levitt, of statistics being incorrectly interpreted. One could unearth scads of such instances. But Levitt's story involves medicine, and we seem to hear evermore frequently (from writers such as Jerome Groopman and Atul Gawande) that the medical field, long steeped in data, nonetheless still struggles to correctly use the stats it has. The construction of education policies atop data-based foundations is, comparatively, a new idea; ed reformers would be wise to learn from the experience of confused doctors and approach studies and reports with greater humility and skepticism.
