John Thompson: Time to Fact-Check the Reformers
Guest post by John Thompson.
When Diane Ravitch spoke in Rhode Island, she explained that test scores were at their highest point in the past 40 years but that they "slowed after the passage of NCLB and Race to the Top. The largest recent gains occurred from 2000-2003, before the implementation of NCLB."
PolitiFact Rhode Island determined that Ravitch's statement was "Mostly False." Now, it provides the next best thing to an apology - the publishing of the truth. PolitiFact now reports that "we believe her statement implied" that scores dropped after NCLB and RttT. They also say thatnumerous readers complained about their judgment, adding:
John Thompson, of Oklahoma City, had a similar complaint. "You wrote that the word 'until' implies that progress stopped with NCLB and [Race to the Top]. Where did you get that from? How is that the implication? The reality was that decades of growth 'slowed' after those reforms. Ravitch's statement is also consistent with her carefully worded explanations that the education system, as a whole, has improved while failing poor children. We've had forty years of growth, but progress stagnated after NCLB.
That raises a question. What if school reformers were open about their errors in fact and their misleading use of language? How would reformers fare if their facts were truly held up to scrutiny?
Here are some of their claims:
Arne Duncan: KIPP Schools produce better reults with "the same students, in the same building."
I heard Duncan make that misstatement in Oklahoma City, claiming that the 123 students