John White’s Journey: Why he decided to ask his Louisiana Department of Education to alter student test scores

Posted on May 26, 2014
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Believe it or not, John White did not start off with the intent of trying to delude Louisiana into believing his education reforms worked simply by altering a few scores. At first I think White believed much of his own rhetoric. Namely:
  • that teachers were lazy and holding kids back with their incompetence
  • that State workers were lazy union wannabe’s, and essentially worthless
  • that IT folks were unnecessary
  • that data would almost magically flow in the department’s coffers with little effort on anyone’s part
  • that most corporations in the education business had kids best interests at heart
  • that charter schools are inherently better than all public schools
  • that simply improving reading and math test scores is the keystone to unlocking all other student learning and overcoming the challenges of poverty
  • that Common Core will improve student outcomes and level the playing field across the nation
  • and that the data will eventually prove that all of his education “reforms” were a success.
John White always wanted to be “the Decider”, a difference maker, a leader of a Nationwide Education Reform movement destined to change the entire landscape of education, schools and teaching, for the better – or so he thought. But there were a lot entrenched interests in his way, ready to pounce on any misstep, any nuance, any faltering. John White knew this, was told this, and had done this himself. Reformers used this approach to make inroads across the nation and even the world, by harping on data often taken out of context or interpreted in self-serving ways. This is what his team, the Reformers, specialized in. White knew exactly how to defeat this move and buy enough time for his vision to work its magic. To defeat people who use data to criticize the status quo, which he had now become, he needed to starve them for data. Like the propaganda John White’s Journey: Why he decided to ask his Louisiana Department of Education to alter student test scores | Crazy Crawfish's Blog: