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Posted on 04/21/2011 8:46:28 AM PDT by Rhonda Robinson
In 2009, 50% or more of all fourth grade students in 10 American cities received “below basic” scores on a federal reading test. But it gets worse – only 18 cities participated in the test.
It takes a great deal of creativity and chutzpah to defend public schools that produce results like these year after year, but the so-called liberal media is giving it a shot.
Apparently adopting the old “best defense is a good offense” technique, the Left is trying to attack everyone who wants to reform the nation’s failed public schools. Lately they have seized on accusations against former pro-reform Washington, DC Superintendent Michelle Rhee as the best way to attack all school reformers, and defend the public school status quo in the process.
Defending a system that has produced horrible results for decades, attacking Rhee is obviously completely ludicrous, but that’s not stopping the Left from making the effort.
Rhee is in the crosshairs after USA Today found troubling irregularities on students’ standardized tests taken during her tenure. According to the newspaper, 103 Washington public schools had higher than average erasure rates on standardized tests. An abnormally high number of the erased answers were changed from wrong answers to correct answers, reported the newspaper, which insinuated that the schools were cheating on the tests, and that Rhee may have been involved.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsrealblog.com ...
If I am remembering correctly, Michelle Rhee was the only person in the rotten D.C. education hierarchy who was actually trying to do something worthwhile, so naturally the libs would attack her.
I don’t believe that Rhee is a “cheater,” but I do think she unintentionally created a climate that encouraged cheating to occur. Moreover, instead of questioning or investigating the highly unlikely test score increases, she took credit for them.
Definding the dunce, it is a little early for the hanity thread . LOL
Rhee is a fraud. Go search “Kevin Johnson and Rhee”. You will find that she has a massive integrity problem. She is also a shameless self-promoter.
“kill my neighbor’s goat”
An old Russian fable involves two peasants who live on neighboring plots of land. One peasant owns a goat; his neighbor does not. One day an angel of mercy comes down from heaven and speaks to the peasant who has no goat. The angel offers him one wish, anything he wants. The peasant makes up his mind immediately. “My neighbor has a goat. I don’t have a goat. Please kill my neighbor’s goat,” he says.
Having a wife who works at a high-achieving elementary school, I have seen the negative effects of desegregation efforts. The district busses in children from an outlying area that generally come from homes where is little-to-no parental support or involvement. These kids DO deserve a chance to receive a quality education, but they usually end-up bringing in a negative influence into the school. They bring numerous behavior and attitude problems into the environment, and their parents are hostile, in many cases, to the teachers and administrators. Unfortunately, districts are either afraid or bound by politicians and bureaucrats, and they cannot take the appropriate strong actions necessary to end this nonsense. I am firm believer that most of what ails public education isn’t the quality of instruction or teaching; it’s mostly about a system that does not hold children accountable for their actions.
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