Connecticut is for spinners: Last week, Jay Mathews analyzed Diane Ravitch’s eleven solutions for public schools. He focused on just seven.
We love, but also dislike, Jay’s upbeat approach to such matters. We’d planned to start with his piece this week, but Fort Lee madness intruded.
We want to say good things about Ravitch. We plan to say such things in the future.
But we’re not sure we’ve ever seen someone with such a wanton approach to even the most basic facts. This remarkable, characteristic behavior shines a real light on our culture.
At issue is this recent blog post. As she starts, Ravitch challenges the latest offering by Michelle Rhee:
RAVITCH (1/14/14): StudentsFirst Issues Another Ludicrous State Report CardWe’re willing to assume that Rhee’s report is ludicrous, or something like it. But so is Ravitch’s listing of the three highest-scoring states.
StudentsFirst, the organization created by Michelle Rhee to promote her ideas about fixing schools by high-stakes testing and choice, has issued its second state-by-state report card.
The highest scoring states are not those whose students have the highest achievement on NAEP; that would be Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
No, the highest scoring states are those that do what Rhee did in D.C., the nation’s lowest-scoring district on NAEP...
Why is the world would someone say that Connecticut is one of the three top states? Consider where those three states ranked in Grade 8 math on the 2013 NAEP:
In Massachusetts, white students ranked first among their counterparts in the fifty states. So did black students. Hispanic students ranked eleventh.
In New Jersey, those three student groups ranked second, second and first among the fifty states.
In Connecticut? White students ranked ninth in the nation. (Hold on—there’s a catch!) That said, black students ranked only 25th in the nation—and Hispanic students ranked at the bottom. They ranked 45th out of the 46 states which had a sufficient sample.
What’s the catch about the white students? Connecticut is a high-income state. If we only consider low-income white kids, Connecticut ranked only 28th among the fifty states.
(In Grade 4 math, things look even worse. Connecticut’s black kids ranked 39th. Its Hispanic students again ranked 45th.)
In fairness, Connecticut scored better in reading. Still, it’s hard to see why you’d want to rank the Nutmeg State in the way Ravitch did.
By the way, how did Texas do in Grade 8 math? Its national rankings were 4, 4 and 3 for the three major student groups. (The state scored less well in reading.)
At present, Ravitch is the foremost educational expert in the liberal world. And yet, she is constantly making peculiar factual claims of this type.
Often, it seems she has her thumb on the scale to serve an ideological purpose. It’s astounding to see the way this goes on again and again and again.
The United States, a global power, is a nation of 315 million people. But so what? Again and again, basic facts play almost no role in our public discussion, even at the very top of our script- and spin-ridden discourse.
Next week, we’re going to say good things about Ravitch. Having said that, let us also said this:
Our intellectual/journalistic culture is deeply, profoundly broken. We're talking about very basic stuff here, but the puzzling claims never cease.
For all state comparisons on the NAEP, just click here.
when blogger explains why traffic across the bridge wasn't affected in the first telling and got better in the second (smoothly, without a retraction or apology for the earlier statement) - then we'll take a shot at explaining Ravich's "contradictions".
ReplyDeleteOMB (Medical Alert)
DeleteThe above troll is clearly insane. Clinically ill.
Diagnosis: "Fort Lee madness"
Ft. Lee Madness is a debilitating disease first found in LiberalWorld, probably passed through the airwaves among those engaged in tribal clown worship.
Among it's syptoms: failure to recognize clear contradictions,
and tribal troll tyranny bordering on Tourette's.
Impact on Society: Known to cause blogger caregivers to procrastinate and postpone ritual refutation of Ravitch.
KZ
Is Somerby's merely a "ritual refutation of Ravitch" -- or does it have merit?
DeleteIt's a rhetorical question. I'm not asking you for god's sake! Your contributions here are as worthless as those of the troll you castigate. Even a stopped watch, etc.
Also: "its"
Your assessment of our contributions is noted as is your correction of one of many typos we always leve as a calling card.
DeleteYour contributions, sadly, do not exist at all.
KZ
"We want to say good things about Ravitch. We plan to say such things in the future."
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to it. I love her.
Well done, Bob. Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteLTR
All that is fine and dandy - but blogger only teased us about another earth-shattering librul lie - that Jesse Helms actually, literally turned his back on Nelson Mandela.
ReplyDeleteInquiring minds want to know the whole truth - from Lexis-Nexus no less.
Inquiring minds also want to thank the blogger for getting back to black kids - after the non-stop ass-covering over the bridge the last few days.
ReplyDeleteSerious non-troll question for TDH or commenters:
ReplyDeleteHow does Texas do so well on disaggregated NAEP scores? What are the things they are doing in the classroom or at home that are producing such good results?
They were the first state to base school district and individual school ratings based on the lowest score of any group on a state standardized test. In simple terms, a schools highest rating could only be acheived by the rating of the lowest average score of disaggregated groups of students. They were disaggregated by race and income. Drop-out rates were also a measure and subject to disaggregation.
DeleteThis began by law with an overhaul led by Senator Bill Ratliff (R) and Representative Paul Sadler (D) under Lt. Governor Bob Bullock (D) and Speaker Pete Laney (D) and signed into law by Governor Ann Richards (D) in 1993. The state also had an aggressive, if not universal pre-kindergarten program begun under Bullock predecessor, Bill Hobby (D). Classroom sizes in K-3 were lowered by state law. Measures to equalize funding between property rich and property poor school districts were adopted from 1989-1993 due to lawsuits won by property poor school districts.
There was never a Texas miracle. There was a lot of sound policy adopted before Geoirge W. Bush came along to try and take credit for it.
KZ
And thanks for asking Trollmes. Pardon the misspelling of George.
DeleteKZ
Texas Math and Science scores compared to the rest of the world and nation:
ReplyDeletehttp://cloakinginequity.com/2014/01/17/are-yall-smarter-than-texans-finns-koreans-math-and-science-test-scores-compared-to-the-world-and-nation/
Sunday Sermonette: PUZZLING, LUDICROUS, WANTON CLAIMS
ReplyDelete"We’re willing to assume that Rhee’s report is ludicrous, or something like it. But so is Ravitch’s listing of the three highest-scoring states."
"Again and again, basic facts play almost no role in our public discussion,"
"At present, Ravitch is the foremost educational expert in the liberal world."
"Our intellectual/journalistic culture is deeply, profoundly broken. We're talking about very basic stuff here, but the puzzling claims never cease."
"But we’re not sure we’ve ever seen someone with such a wanton approach to even the most basic facts. This remarkable, characteristic behavior shines a real light on our culture."
Did you leave out "peculiar" on purpose?
Delete