Villanueva-Beard Strikes Back
A few weeks ago I wrote a post called ‘TFA co-CEOs vs. The Boogeyman’ in which I challenged Elisa Villanueva-Beard’s frequent use of the term ‘status quo’ to define people who are opposed to unproven theories of the corporate reformers, many of them TFA alumni. I wrote that this was an unfair, and untrue, phrase since there really isn’t anyone who doesn’t want anything in education to change. If
Fat (Lie) Tuesday
Yesterday, there was some exciting news out of New Orleans. I learned about it from a tweet by TFA co-CEO Elisa Villanueva-Beard.
Now I’ve written before about The New Orleans ‘Miracle.’ They generally have a way of twisting whatever numbers they get into something that they can celebrate. In this case, I read the article from the Times-Picayune with the impressive headline ‘Louisiana students earn most Advanced Placement credits in state’s history’ This was also reported on New Orleans channel 8 website KNOE.
In that KNOE report it begins:
Governor Bobby Jindal and State Superintendent John White announced that the number of college credits earned on Advanced Placement (AP) exams has increased by more than 1,000 credits or 25 percent over the past year—the greatest individual increase in state history. Louisiana high school students scored high enough to earn college credit on 5,144 AP exams in 2013.The credits earned by students who scored a 3, 4 or 5 on the AP exams are transferable to nearly any college in the nation, and Louisiana leads the country in growth of number of exams taken. 10,529 students took the AP exam in 2013, which is 4,000 more students than last year.
Oh boy. Instantly I was able