I am visiting the National Press Club building, for the first time, for the official presentation of the long-awaited results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress which American students took TWELVE MONTHS AGO.
Let that sink in: it took almost a full school (or calendar) year for the results to be tabulated and properly massaged. (So much for having data that teachers could possibly use!)
In the morning session, presenters acknowledged that for the nation as a whole, reading scores are flat – essentially unchanged — after 25 years of various types of ‘reforms’. Panelists tried to explain why, and seemed to me to give just about diametrically-opposed solutions to the problem. The introductory presenter (whom we saw on tape), essentially blamed us adults for not letting kids see us read often and deeply enough, and said that if we just wish harder, the results will come. (not quite a direct quote, but close)
I did a quick appraisal of how Washington DC’s scores have improved (or not) before and after mayoral control, which was imposed shortly after students took the 2007 NAEP. You may recall that Michelle Rhee was imposed as DC’s first education Chancellor. She and her henchwoman, Kaya Henderson (who succeeded Rhee) predicted, in writing, all sorts of miraculous gains that would come if they were free to fire teachers en masse and subject them to rigorous numerical control via IMPACT and VAM.
None of it came to pass.
With today’s data it is even clearer than ever. I found 16 separate subcategories of students for which I could easily find data. Of them, improvements were better BEFORE mayoral control for 12 of them, and in only 4 was the improvement slightly better AFTER mayoral control.
That’s a three-to-one vote against mayoral control and the whole educational Reformster movement.
In other cities and jurisdictions, it’s more of the same. The imposition of Common Core curriculum, along with SBAC and PARCC testing and the like, has in fact made the gaps between high-achievers and low-achievers wider than ever.
The only positive thing for DC education officials is that now DC isn’t the last in the nation any more! That honor now belongs to Detroit — in a city and state where privatization of schools has run wild under the supervision of Billionaire “Christian” Betsy Devos.
Really, really sad.
Or as Peter Greene of Curmudgucation wrote earlier today,
It’s NAEP Day. Here’s What To Remember As You Peruse All the Various PIeces Offering Reactions and Analysis of the So-Called Nation’s Report Card. Really.
Posted: 10 Apr 2018 08:24 AM PDT
Even if you disagree with the valu the NAEP, it is the yardstick by which many folks, including many reformsters, choose to use in measuring educational achievement.
The 2017 tests were taken by students who have, for the most part, received an entire education shaped by ed reform.
The scores were not good.
Ed reform has failed.
Everything else is just details and noise.
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