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NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND FLUNKS AGAIN
Progressive Review - The dismal record of the corporatization of America's public school system under the No Child Left Behind law reiterated itself in the latest national math test scores.
Between 2007 and 2009 there was no change in 4th grade math scores. Scores have risen about 1% a year since the law was passed.
For low income students, between 2007 and 2009, 4th grade math scores went up 1 point. The increase since 2003 has been 6 points.
Those scoring below basic levels have declined 3% since 2007 and 23% since 2003, which sounds good until you learn that this marker declined about the same amount in the period immediately before the law was passed.
For 8th graders, the scores since 2007 have gone up less than 1%. Since 2003 they have gone up less than 2%. For low income 8th graders, the results were abut the same.
All this is before we consider such key issues as how the tests are designed, what they test, or the degree to which they are manipulated to produce the desired results.
But even without these details, we have one more sad chapter in deforming of public education.
According to an article by Nick Anderson and Bill Turque, "D.C. public schools made outsize gains in mathematics during the past six years, according to a federal report card that shows the city school system, long derided as one of the nation's worst, is progressing faster than most of its urban peers.
"The advances do not put the city schools anywhere near the same league as high-flying suburban systems such as Montgomery, Fairfax or Arlington counties. But the results suggest that reform efforts under controversial D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and her predecessor have begun to pay off in better student performance."
Way down the article, the reporters note that Rhee - beloved by the extremist center - only took over in 2007.
The article claims, "The National Assessment of Educational Progress found that the D.C. system was the only one of 11 studied in 2007 and 2009 to make significant strides in grade 4 and 8 math scores, in an analysis that excluded charter school scores. Its gains in fourth grade since 2003 were triple those found in the nation as a whole and roughly double those for all large cities."
It should be noted that Turque has done some real good reporting on DC schools but this story, like so many these days, seems searching for proof that the test junkies are right.
It should also be noted that the Washington Post's profits these days in large part from the test monster Kaplan, which, Wikipedia notes "provides educational materials and services to children in grades pre-K through 12 and individual school districts,and advises school districts on compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act. Also, Kaplan's Score Learning Centers provide after-school tutoring services in reading and math for children in grades kindergarten to tenth grade."
Now let's turn to some facts about the DC results national math tests.
For grades four and eight the increase in test scores during Rhee's regime beginning in 2007 was 2%. The percent moving from below basic achievement to at or above was 14% and 11% respectively.
This sounds good until you consider a couple of factors. First, the 4th grade improvement is almost precisely that occurred in recent earlier years except between 2007 and 2005. If Rhee wasn't on the case then, how could the DC schools possibly have done so well? Only in the 8th grade, where those below basic level fell 10% compared to 4-8% in previous years, could Rhee claim any credit.
Second, if the 8th grade did better was it really because it learned more or because the students were being better trained to take tests - which is not the same as learning math? Elementary education has long been strongly biased towards rote learning, and the DC school system has always done better at that level on tests as a result.
For low income students, the improvement was statistically insignificant under Rhee compared to the immediate preceding years.
The one thing Anderson and Turque are quite right about is that DC school system, "long derided as one of the nation's worst, is progressing faster than most of its urban peers."
The irony, however, is that this information was available to the Washington Post and others for some time and it happened before Rhee. Instead, faux reformers have used the capital as a major excuse for creating a test-driven, corporate-conceived public school policy with which we are now cursed.
Between 2007 and 2009 there was no change in 4th grade math scores. Scores have risen about 1% a year since the law was passed.
For low income students, between 2007 and 2009, 4th grade math scores went up 1 point. The increase since 2003 has been 6 points.
Those scoring below basic levels have declined 3% since 2007 and 23% since 2003, which sounds good until you learn that this marker declined about the same amount in the period immediately before the law was passed.
For 8th graders, the scores since 2007 have gone up less than 1%. Since 2003 they have gone up less than 2%. For low income 8th graders, the results were abut the same.
All this is before we consider such key issues as how the tests are designed, what they test, or the degree to which they are manipulated to produce the desired results.
But even without these details, we have one more sad chapter in deforming of public education.
THE DC ANGLE
According to an article by Nick Anderson and Bill Turque, "D.C. public schools made outsize gains in mathematics during the past six years, according to a federal report card that shows the city school system, long derided as one of the nation's worst, is progressing faster than most of its urban peers.
"The advances do not put the city schools anywhere near the same league as high-flying suburban systems such as Montgomery, Fairfax or Arlington counties. But the results suggest that reform efforts under controversial D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and her predecessor have begun to pay off in better student performance."
Way down the article, the reporters note that Rhee - beloved by the extremist center - only took over in 2007.
The article claims, "The National Assessment of Educational Progress found that the D.C. system was the only one of 11 studied in 2007 and 2009 to make significant strides in grade 4 and 8 math scores, in an analysis that excluded charter school scores. Its gains in fourth grade since 2003 were triple those found in the nation as a whole and roughly double those for all large cities."
It should be noted that Turque has done some real good reporting on DC schools but this story, like so many these days, seems searching for proof that the test junkies are right.
It should also be noted that the Washington Post's profits these days in large part from the test monster Kaplan, which, Wikipedia notes "provides educational materials and services to children in grades pre-K through 12 and individual school districts,and advises school districts on compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act. Also, Kaplan's Score Learning Centers provide after-school tutoring services in reading and math for children in grades kindergarten to tenth grade."
Now let's turn to some facts about the DC results national math tests.
For grades four and eight the increase in test scores during Rhee's regime beginning in 2007 was 2%. The percent moving from below basic achievement to at or above was 14% and 11% respectively.
This sounds good until you consider a couple of factors. First, the 4th grade improvement is almost precisely that occurred in recent earlier years except between 2007 and 2005. If Rhee wasn't on the case then, how could the DC schools possibly have done so well? Only in the 8th grade, where those below basic level fell 10% compared to 4-8% in previous years, could Rhee claim any credit.
Second, if the 8th grade did better was it really because it learned more or because the students were being better trained to take tests - which is not the same as learning math? Elementary education has long been strongly biased towards rote learning, and the DC school system has always done better at that level on tests as a result.
For low income students, the improvement was statistically insignificant under Rhee compared to the immediate preceding years.
The one thing Anderson and Turque are quite right about is that DC school system, "long derided as one of the nation's worst, is progressing faster than most of its urban peers."
The irony, however, is that this information was available to the Washington Post and others for some time and it happened before Rhee. Instead, faux reformers have used the capital as a major excuse for creating a test-driven, corporate-conceived public school policy with which we are now cursed.
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