Submitted by Elaine Magliaro Guest Blogger
In May, David Sirota penned an article for Salon titled Selling out Public Schools. In it, he said that Mitt Romney, President Obama, and both of our major political parties were “assaulting public education.”
Sirota wrote:
On the Republican side, the Washington Post reports Mitt Romney just unveiled “a pro-choice, pro-voucher, pro-states-rights education program that seems certain to hasten the privatization of the public education system” completely. On the other side, Wall Street titans in the Democratic Party with zero experience in education policy are marshaling tens of millions of dollars to do much of what Romney aims to do as president – and they often have a willing partner in President Barack “Race to the Top” Obama and various Democratic governors.
Funded by corporate interests who naturally despise organized labor, both sides have demonized teachers’ unions as the primary problem in education — somehow ignoring the fact that most of the best-performing public school systems in America and in the rest of the world are, in fact, unionized. (Are we never supposed to ask how, if unions are the primary problem, so many unionized schools in America and abroad do so well?) Not surprisingly, these politicians and activists insist they are driven solely by their regard for the nation’s children — and they expect us to ignore the massive amount of money their benefactors (and even the activists personally) stand to make by transforming public education into yet another private profit center. Worse, they ask us also to forget that in the last few years of aggressive “reform” (read: evisceration) of public education, the education gap has actually gotten far worse, with the most highly touted policies put in place now turning the schoolhouse into yet another catalyst of crushing inequality.
Sirota says that charter schools and vouchers are one of the five most “prominent” of these policies. I would agree. There has been an education movement afoot for a many years whose aim is less about reforming public schools and more about the privatization of public education. One of the first steps in the “reform” process is funneling public money away from traditional public schools to “privately administered” charter schools and to private schools via tuition vouchers.
A Look at the New Student Voucher Program in Louisiana
Stephanie Simon (Reuters) has reported that Louisiana is “embarking on the nation’s boldest experiment in privatizing public education.” She wrote, “Starting this fall, thousands of poor and middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools across Louisiana, including small, Bible-based church schools.” Louisiana’s voucher program, which is said to be the most sweeping in the country, will “shift tens of millions of dollars from public schools to pay not only private schools but also private businesses and private tutors to educate children across the state.”
Governor Bobby Jindal and State Superintendent of Education John White, both of whom pushed for the voucher program, “promised to hold the private schools accountable for student achievement.” Yet, it has been reported that “money will continue to flow to scores of private and religious schools participating in Louisiana’s new voucher program even if their students fail basic reading and math tests…”
Casey Michel (TPMMuckraker) reported in July that students in every public school in Louisiana are subjected to standardized testing, but “voucher students — who will bring an average of $8,000 in tuition from ‘failing’ public schools to many that are affiliated with religious denominations — will only need to face testing if their new school has taken an average of 10 students per grade, or if the schools have accepted at least 40 voucher students into the grades testing.”
Simon said that according to new rules, “schools will not be penalized for poor scores on state standardized tests if they have fewer than 40 voucher students enrolled in the upper elementary or secondary grades.” Even if their voucher students fail to “demonstrate basic competency in math, reading, science and social studies,” the private schools will continue to receive state funds. Superintendent White estimated that 75 percent of the 120 private schools participating in the voucher program would “fall into this protected category.”
Participating schools that have more than 40 voucher students will be given a “numerical grade from the state based on their voucher students’ test scores.” Schools that score less than 50 on a 150-point scale will not be allowed to enroll more voucher students. Those schools will, however, still “continue to receive public money indefinitely to serve students already enrolled.”
Opponents of the voucher program say that their biggest concern is “the fact that the students may be transferring, on the taxpayers’ dime, to a school that will score worse than the one from which they left. That is, a student can leave a public school if it scores a ‘C’ or below on state standardized testing — but if the new private school scores the minimum of 50, the equivalent of a D-minus, it could still recruit new voucher students.”
Some of those who are critical of the new voucher program have voiced concerns about accountability procedures. Donald Songy, a representative of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, questioned the provision “that a private school wouldn’t be in trouble unless it scored less than 50, whereas a public school is labeled a failure if it scores less than 65.”
Now millions of tax dollars originally earmarked for Louisiana’s public schools will go to pay for private school tuitions—even if the voucher students in those schools are not achieving academically. Does this voucher program look like it could be the solution to the problem of failing schools in Louisiana?
Regarding Education in Private and Religious Schools Participating in Louisiana’s Voucher Program
It has been reported that most of the 120 educational facilities that will participate in the voucher program are Christian schools. Should citizens of Louisiana be concerned about what is being taught in private and religious schools that their tax dollars are helping to subsidize?
In her article Louisiana’s Bold Bid to Privatize Schools, Simon told of New Living Word—a school in Ruston that is willing to accept the most voucher students—more than 300. The school has a top-ranked basketball team—but no library. Simon explained how the students spend most of their school days “watching TVs in bare-bones classrooms.” She said, “Each lesson consists of an instructional DVD that intersperses Biblical verses with subjects such chemistry or composition.”
Simon also wrote of another school that is planning to make room for potential voucher students: “At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains ‘what God made’ on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution.”
According to Simon, there are private schools in Louisiana that have been approved to receive state funds that “use social studies texts warning that liberals threaten global prosperity; Bible-based math books that don’t cover modern concepts such as set theory; and biology texts built around refuting evolution.” Many of the schools “rely on Pensacola-based A Beka Book curriculum or Bob Jones University Press textbooks to teach their pupils Bible-based ‘facts,’ such as the existence of Nessie the Loch Ness Monster and all sorts of pseudoscience…” (14 Wacky “Facts” Kids Will Learn in Louisiana’s Voucher Schools)
Here are some examples of the “historical facts” that children may learn in these religious schools in Louisiana–courtesy of The Society Pages:
• Humans and dinosaurs co-existed.
• God designed “checks and balances” to prevent environmental crises, so chill! After all, “Roses are red, violets are blue; they both grow better with more CO2.”
• “Rumors” of foreclosures, high unemployment, homelessness, and general misery during the Great Depression are just socialist propaganda.
• Unions just want to destroy the accomplishments of “hardworking Americans.”
• Mormons, Unitarians, and Catholics = bad.
• And then there’s the history of racial/ethnic relations: “God used the ‘Trail of Tears’ to bring many Indians to Christ” and “Through the Negro spiritual, slaves developed patience to wait on the Lord and discovered that the truest freedom is freedom from the bondage of sin.” No, seriously — I didn’t make those up.
Opinions on the School Voucher Program
Education expert Diane Ravitch wrote the following about the school voucher program in Louisiana:
Bear in mind that public education is level-funded, so all these millions for vouchers and charters and online schooling and tutoring will come right out of the public school budget, making classes more overcrowded, closing libraries, shutting down services for students that need them.
Ravitch also wrote about the American Legislative Exchange Council’s links to the movement to privatize public schools in the The Washington Post:
A recent article in the Newark Star-Ledger showed how closely New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “reform” legislation is modeled on ALEC’s work in education. Wherever you see states expanding vouchers, charters, and other forms of privatization, wherever you see states lowering standards for entry into the teaching profession, wherever you see states opening up new opportunities for profit-making entities, wherever you see the expansion of for-profit online charter schools, you are likely to find legislation that echoes the ALEC model.
ALEC has been leading the privatization movement for nearly 40 years, but the only thing new is the attention it is getting, and the fact that many of its ideas are now being enacted…
Charles P. Pierce wrote the following on his Esquire blog in July:
One wave of education “reform” demands almost continual high-stakes testing. Another wave of education “reform” demands that public money go to private for-profit “schools.” Now, the new wave of education “reform” demands that the high-stakes testing not count in the new for-profit “schools.” But this never has been about education. It’s been about destroying the public schools and protecting the right of people to marinate in superstition and nonsense.
*****
What is your opinion about the movement to privatize public education? What is your opinion about public money being spent to pay student tuitions at religious schools? Do you think that some school “reformers” are out to destroy public schools in this country?
SOURCES
Both Obama and Romney are assaulting public education. Five threats, in particular, stand out (Salon)
Louisiana’s bold bid to privatize schools (Reuters)
Louisiana sets rules for landmark school voucher program (MSNBC/Reuters)
Vouching for Failure in Louisiana Schools (Esquire)
Louisiana sets rules for landmark school voucher program (Chicago Tribune)
Louisiana’s Voucher Standards Called Into Question (TPMMuckraker)
Louisiana vouchers going mainly to church-affiliated schools (The Town Talk)
Despite criticism, Louisiana OKs accountability plan for school vouchers (The Town Talk)
Vouchers and the future of public education (Washington Post)
Ravitch: A primer on the group driving school reform (Washington Post)
14 Wacky “Facts” Kids Will Learn in Louisiana’s Voucher Schools (Mother Jones)
Some of Christie’s biggest bills match model legislation from D.C. group called ALEC (New Jersey On-Line)
A Close Look at Some Evangelical Textbooks (The Society Pages)
From ALEC Exposed:
Privatizing Public Education, Higher Ed Policy, and Teachers
http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Privatizing_Public_Education,_Higher_Ed_Policy,_and_Teachers
Stock prices will rise for the company that makes compazine. QUICK! BUY!
Privatizing Public Schools: Big Firms Eyeing Profits From U.S. K-12 Market
By Stephanie Simon
Reuters
08/02/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/private-firms-eyeing-prof_n_1732856.html
Excerpt:
NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The investors gathered in a tony private club in Manhattan were eager to hear about the next big thing, and education consultant Rob Lytle was happy to oblige.
Think about the upcoming rollout of new national academic standards for public schools, he urged the crowd. If they’re as rigorous as advertised, a huge number of schools will suddenly look really bad, their students testing way behind in reading and math. They’ll want help, quick. And private, for-profit vendors selling lesson plans, educational software and student assessments will be right there to provide it.
“You start to see entire ecosystems of investment opportunity lining up,” said Lytle, a partner at The Parthenon Group, a Boston consulting firm. “It could get really, really big.”
Indeed, investors of all stripes are beginning to sense big profit potential in public education.
The K-12 market is tantalizingly huge: The U.S. spends more than $500 billion a year to educate kids from ages five through 18. The entire education sector, including college and mid-career training, represents nearly 9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, more than the energy or technology sectors.
Traditionally, public education has been a tough market for private firms to break into — fraught with politics, tangled in bureaucracy and fragmented into tens of thousands of individual schools and school districts from coast to coast.
Now investors are signaling optimism that a golden moment has arrived. They’re pouring private equity and venture capital into scores of companies that aim to profit by taking over broad swaths of public education.
The conference last week at the University Club, billed as a how-to on “private equity investing in for-profit education companies,” drew a full house of about 100.
OUTSOURCING BASICS
In the venture capital world, transactions in the K-12 education sector soared to a record $389 million last year, up from $13 million in 2005. That includes major investments from some of the most respected venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, according to GSV Advisors, an investment firm in Chicago that specializes in education.
The goal: an education revolution in which public schools outsource to private vendors such critical tasks as teaching math, educating disabled students, even writing report cards, said Michael Moe, the founder of GSV.
“It’s time,” Moe said. “Everybody’s excited about it.”
Not quite everyone.
The push to privatize has alarmed some parents and teachers, as well as union leaders who fear their members will lose their jobs or their autonomy in the classroom.
Many of these protesters have rallied behind education historian Diane Ravitch, a professor at New York University, who blogs and tweets a steady stream of alarms about corporate profiteers invading public schools.
Ravitch argues that schools have, in effect, been set up by a bipartisan education reform movement that places an enormous emphasis on standardized test scores, labels poor performers as “failing” schools and relentlessly pushes local districts to transform low-ranked schools by firing the staff and turning the building over to private management.
President Barack Obama and both Democratic and Republican policymakers in the states have embraced those principles. Local school districts from Memphis to Philadelphia to Dallas, meanwhile, have hired private consultants to advise them on improving education; the strategists typically call for a broader role for private companies in public schools.
“This is a new frontier,” Ravitch said. “The private equity guys and the hedge fund guys are circling public education.”
Some of the products and services offered by private vendors may well be good for kids and schools, Ravitch said. But she has no confidence in their overall quality because “the bottom line is that they’re seeking profit first.”
Vendors looking for a toehold in public schools often donate generously to local politicians and spend big on marketing, so even companies with dismal academic results can rack up contracts and rake in tax dollars, Ravitch said.
“They’re taking education, which ought to be in a different sphere where we’re constantly concerned about raising quality, and they’re applying a business metric: How do we cut costs?” Ravitch said.
Curious, Great questions. Let me say I agree public education WAS “the bedrock of this nation” and w/ fundamental changes can be once again. I am, like yourself, not ready to turn education over to large corporations. I often rant about large corporations.
In general, the best teachers I had were nuns. There are hardly any nuns left. The next best were Jesuits and Holy Cross Fathers. That is not to say that I did not have any good lay teachers. Probably the best teacher I ever had was a lay philosophy professor and a grade school math teacher. I do not want to bury public education, although it needs to stop digging its own grave before it can be saved. My experience is many good teachers accept the low pay in parochial schools for the same reason I taught there, more dedication and less bureaucracy. I had a family to support and simply couldn’t justify staying. But, the loss of teaching nuns has definitely hurt Catholic schools.
Nick,
I was interested learning that you quit teaching when employed by a private school. The pay was insufficent. It’s a good lesson. What do you suppose will happen when most of our schools are private and for profit? Do you suppose they will be attracting and keeping good teachers – people much like yourself?
Your favorable view of Catholic schooling is also interesting. Were most of your really great teachers lay teachers or religious men or women? Compensation for religious workers will be much lower, of course. If you had great lay teachers, did they make the Catholic schools their career or did they also leave in order to better support their families?
Free public schools were the bedrock of this nation. I am not ready to turn that over to corporations (whose primary concern is their bonus and the stockholders) nor to religious institutions.
Malisha, So, if a family is in a depraved school district[pick one, there are many] and they can’t afford a private school, they are SOS. Malisha, yours is an old arguement and the cavalier way alleged progressives, who can afford private schools, condemn poor kids to these dysfunctional; schools is the height of hypocrisy. The public sees it, Obama and his great Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan sees it, and hopefully you will also some day. And my hope is not so much for you but for some kids who aren’t as fortunate as yours and mine.
OK, but there is no guarantee of a public college education for anyone. There IS a guarantee of public school education before college.
I meant govt. money goes to PRIVATE and RELIGIOUS colleges via Pell, VA, and the myriad of other Federal and State grants.
Everyones taxes goes to public schools and has for generations. The VA, Pell Grants, etc. do not limit the money to go to public colleges and I have NEVER heard a complaint about that. Let’s be intellectually honest here.
I don’t support charter schools and their role in the privatization of education. However, the charter school in Angel Fire NM, yes, that same bear in the resort Angel Fire, might be an exception. Based on a discussion with a (the?) primary driver for the establishment of the school, the parents at Angel Fire were concerned about the dangerous condition of the roads between Angel Fire and the public school. The school board agreed it was a problem but it would be years before they could open a school there. The Angel Fire community raised the funds and jumped through the hoops to open their own charter school. I had no opportunity to discuss the school with others so don’t know if, or how strong, any opposition might be.
According to Wikipedia,
“Moreno Valley High School is a charter high school located in the Angel Fire, New Mexico. Founded by Michael Strong in 2001, Moreno Valley High School is based on the Paideia method. The school’s charter was unanimously renewed by the Cimarron School Board in 2007.
“Moreno Valley High School is nationally ranked as the 41st high school in America by the 2008 Newsweek/Washington Post Challenge Index [1] In addition to this, the school’s five year average ACT scores are higher in every reporting category for the reporting period than the state’s scores in the same categories. Students at the school made Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind in every category, for the past three years.
“Six Advanced Placement classes are offered on a regular basis and two on an as-needed basis. All Advanced Placement classes are sanctioned by the College Board. One specific Advanced Placement syllabus used by Moreno Valley High School was recognized by the College Board of New Mexico. They are:
AP Art (as needed)
AP Calculus (as needed)
AP Biology
AP World History
AP Government
“Graduating seniors have gone on to pursue advanced degrees at colleges and universities that include Middlebury College in Vermont, University of Oregon, Bayers College in Ohio, Texas Christian University, Virginia Military Institute, Brigham Young University, Universitiet College Utrecht in Utrecht, The Netherlands, and a World College campus in Florence, Italy.”
Questions:
1. Is the school free for all or is there tuition? Avg income is $45,000+
2. If the roads are dangerous for the older kids, why do the elementary kids still go to Cimarron?
Hint: the kids of the prime mover are/were in high school. I think they are working to open an elementary/middle school.
Elaine,
Yes – That is exactly what I am talking about. The child’s parents have the incentive and reward to pick the school of their liking. It will not take long before some nutty religious school is weeded out by the market. And the school has every incentive not to be weeded and to respond to the needs of the children. And new even whackier schools may start (say some Scientology school or whatever your nightmare is). Their success will be determined ultimately by their product.
You do not want your tax dollars going to religious schools? Fine neither do i. I do not want it to go to schools with unions. Or schools that stink. I do not control that though. Nor should I nor you have that ability to control it. Because you do not know what it right for me/my children or anyone elses. Many religious affiliated schools (Christian/Catholic, Jewish, etc) often provide better education than public, especially in urban areas with the worst schools. I still would not send my child to religious school in that particular case. But it is my choice.
Why is profit so bad? You don’t think the union is “profit” motivated. Maybe not the same profit as a public company but let’s not kid ourselves – its about the senior management. And govt officials/politicians are not “profit” motivated? Politicians do what is best for them. I want children and their parents to have that same ability to do what is best for them.
ElaineM, Most people have personal contact w/ public education, and it is that personal experience on which they base their opinion. What I told you was my personal experience, not influenced by “talking heads”. And, if you read my comment, I agree the biggest problem is the break up of the family and all that entails. Being a PI, I can read people incredibly well. Elaine, when I walked into a classroom about which I knew nothing, I could tell the kids who didn’t have fathers in the home, both male and female students. The boys were easier to spot, but the girls who craved a male figure would laser in on me. So we agree on this point.
At about the same time divorce became common and the family unit disjointed, teachers became unionized and mostly female. It was a perfect storm for failure. At that time that creative, non union mentality was crucial, it was lost. At a time when more men were needed to be teachers because men were abandoning their families, they left the teaching profession. Elaine, beside my aforementioned personal experience teaching in public and private schools, I also had a diverse educaation. K-8 I attended both Catholic and public school. I went to a Catholic high school and Catholic college. When I went to obtain my teaching certification, I attended a public university. My personal experience is private education is much better than private. No talking head told me that.
As stated previously, I truly understand your position, I just disagree. I appreciate your honest debate, some here just dig in their heels and are sanctimonious. I’ve been told “I’m out of my league” here. My query as to “what league” she spoke about went unanswered. Elaine, my take is you were a very good, hard working teacher. My old man was very wise. He was a jet engine mechanic for Pratt&Whitney. They were a union shop. As he got older he detested the union for one very simple reason. He said to me once, “Unions eventually just become a crutch for the most lazy and incompetent workers to keep their jobs. It hurts morale and productivity.” You have to admit, you saw what my old man talked about vis a vis unions.
Elaine,
Of course not….by the way….. You have not posted anything I disagree with yet…. I used to work for nea and the investigations that went on were pitiful…… They in my opinion were used to obtain private employee information….. So that the information was kept by the government and therefore disclosable…….today, ssn are not kept on payroll Stubbs… Only employee identification……
mark1,
What educational incentives/rewards are you talking about? Being able to use public money to pay tuition to a private religious school where your child’s mind will be taught science based on their parents’ religious beliefs?
I’d say the voucher program provides an incentive for for-profit schools to make money from the privatization of public schools. I wouldn’t want my tax dollars to pay students’ tuition to religious or for-profit schools.
Nick,
“I think the union is part of the problem, as does our President and Secretary of Education. Whether you want to believe it or not, to varying degrees most folks also think that. The biggest problem is the breakdown of the family.”
I have no doubt that most folks think unions are a major problem. Why is that? Maybe it’s because that’s what most of the talking heads on television tell them.
I think that one of the major problems is children growing up in poverty and/or unsafe surroundings. It is hard for them to focus in school when they are dealing with so many issues at home and in their neighborhoods. Both my daughter and son-in-law are social workers for our state’s Department of Children and Families. They know all about young children who lead traumatic lives. Many of them have problems in school. For some of these children–school is the best and safest part of their lives.
Elaine,
The problem is spending other people’s money. That never works. When I go on a business trip I could care less that my employer pays $3 for a $1 bottle of water because of my convenience. The same is true but worse with bureaucrats not only spending other peoples money but in addition have the benefits of that spending divorced from themselves. Basically you have a legislators telling an administrator how much to spend and what goals to achieve. The administrator can easily ask for or blame lack of money and/or can blame “societal” issues for their failure. What the administrator does not have is the incentive or any incentive to overcome the obstacles. The bottom line is that the incentives/rewards are completely and totally off.
Returning the money to child and their parents at least aligns the incentives somewhat better – though not perfectly. Obviously some will make horrific choices but not necessarily any more so or less so than those legislators and administrators. However overall there is a better incentive and reward system in place.
I do not claim to be an expert in education but I do know a few things. One is that incentive/rewards matter. And second is that more layers of complexity when a simple solution is available generally has very bad results. Simplicty>Complexity
I think the union is part of the problem, as does our President and Secretary of Education. Whether you want to believe it or not, to varying degrees most folks also think that. The biggest problem is the breakdown of the family.
In 1999 I was burned out as a PI. I had experienced a shooting trauma a few years prior and decided to cut back on my business, return to school, and become a teacher. That was my intent when I first went to college in 1970, but changed my major to criminal justice.I took day and evening classes, continued my business, and did substitute teaching for practical experience. It was 80 hour weeks, something I was used to running my own business. I was certified as a secondary history teacher in 2002. I taught some in public school but couldn’t stand the union mentality. I could go on a rant here but will simply say that mentality is stifling. I taught some in a Catholic school and found a better work ethic, but the money was just to little to justify continuing. So, I returned to my business as a PI. I could expand on my thoughts but it would be a waste of my time and yours.
nick,
Do you think that taking public money away from public schools to pay students’ tuition to religious/private schools that aren’t required to meet the same educational standards as the public schools is a way to solve the problem of failing schools in Louisiana?
Don’t you think we should address the societal problems that are the causes of failing schools? Do you think that public school teachers are the main problem?
Eager for Spotlight, but Not if It Is on a Testing Scandal
By MICHAEL WINERIP
August 21, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/education/22winerip.html?pagewanted=all
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — Why won’t Michelle Rhee talk to USA Today?
Ms. Rhee, the chancellor of the Washington public schools from 2007 to 2010, is the national symbol of the data-driven, take-no-prisoners education reform movement.
It’s hard to find a media outlet, big or small, that she hasn’t talked to. She’s been interviewed by Katie Couric, Tom Brokaw and Oprah Winfrey. She’s been featured on a Time magazine cover holding a broom (to sweep away bad teachers). She was one of the stars of the documentary “Waiting for Superman.”
These days, as director of an advocacy group she founded, StudentsFirst, she crisscrosses the country pushing her education politics: she’s for vouchers and charter schools, against tenure, for teachers, but against their unions.
Always, she preens for the cameras. Early in her chancellorship, she was trailed for a story by the education correspondent of “PBS NewsHour,” John Merrow.
At one point, Ms. Rhee asked if his crew wanted to watch her fire a principal. “We were totally stunned,” Mr. Merrow said.
She let them set up the camera behind the principal and videotape the entire firing. “The principal seemed dazed,” said Mr. Merrow. “I’ve been reporting 35 years and never seen anything like it.”
And yet, as voracious as she is for the media spotlight, Ms. Rhee will not talk to USA Today.
At the end of March, three of the paper’s reporters — Marisol Bello, Jack Gillum and Greg Toppo — broke a story about the high rate of erasures and suspiciously high test-score gains at 41 Washington schools while Ms. Rhee was chancellor.
At some schools, they found the odds that so many answers had been changed from wrong to right randomly were 1 in 100 billion. In a fourth-grade class at Stanton Elementary, 97 percent of the erasures were from wrong to right. Districtwide, the average number of erasures for seventh graders was fewer than one per child, but for a seventh-grade class at Noyes Elementary, it was 12.7 per student. At Noyes Elementary in 2008, 84 percent of fourth graders were proficient in math, up from 22 percent in 2007.
Ms. Rhee’s reputation has rested on her schools’ test scores. Suddenly, a USA Today headline was asking, “were the gains real?” In this era of high-pressure testing, Washington has become another in a growing list of cheating scandals that has included Atlanta, Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.
It took the USA Today reporters a year to finish their three-part series. So many people were afraid to speak that Ms. Bello had to interview dozens to find one willing to be quoted. She knocked on teachers’ doors at 9:30 at night and hunted parents at PTA meetings. She met people in coffee shops where they would not be recognized, and never called or e-mailed sources at their schools.
Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for Ms. Rhee, said the reporters were “provided unprecedented time and access to report out their story,” including many meetings with senior staff members and the chief of data accountability. By last fall, Mr. Sevugan said, district officials’ patience was wearing thin. The deputy press secretary, Safiya Simmons, complained in an e-mail to a colleague, “Jack Gillum isn’t going away quietly, Uggh.”
“Just stop answering his e-mails,” advised Anita Dunn, a consultant who had been the communications director for President Obama.
The reporters made a dozen attempts to interview Ms. Rhee, directly and through her public relations representatives. Ms. Bello called Ms. Rhee’s cellphone daily, and finally got her on a Sunday.
“She said she wasn’t going to talk with us,” Ms. Bello recalled. “Her understanding was we were writing about” district schools “and she is no longer chancellor.”
ElaineM, I understand your disdain for Rhee. I completely disgree but also know there’s no way I could change your mind. Reasobable folks can disagree. I believe doing the same things over and over again that fail, but expecting different results, is insanity.