Bernard Bahati, a director general in Rwanda's education ministry, was leading a task force considering ways to reform teachers’ contracts to tackle the country’s learning crisis. An adaptive trial was underway to see if the significant learning gains from the pilot could be replicated at scale when implemented by the government. However, six months into the trial, a new minister arrived wanting to scale-up immediately. Caught between political pressure to act quickly and researchers urging caution, Bahati faced a critical decision.