Tuesday, December 28, 2010

NYC Public School Parents: Fact-checking "Waiting for Superman": False data and fraudulent claims

NYC Public School Parents: Fact-checking "Waiting for Superman": False data and fraudulent claims

Fact-checking "Waiting for Superman": False data and fraudulent claims

In the movie Waiting for Superman, nominated for an Oscar as the best Documentary of 2010, the following statement is made:

" ...in Illinois, 1 in 57 doctors loses his or her medical license, and 1 in 97 attorneys loses his or her law license, but only 1 teacher in 2500 has ever lost his or her credentials."

While looking for the source of this claim, which is repeated without citation in the movie and its companion book, I came upon a 2007 newspaper article by Scott Reeder of the Small Newspaper Group:

During the past six years, 1 in 2,500 Illinois educators have lost their teaching credentials through suspension, revocation or surrender.