This blog is an archive of the Ed Reform 101 project, designed to give policy makers and the public clear, concise information about education reform. There are five posts in the series, which are also presented in the "Pages" column. Fact sheets in .pdf format will also be available soon.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

December 2012 Best Information

THE ROLES OF ACCESS AND HEALTH SOON AFTER BIRTH


One literature documents a significant, black-white gap in average test scores, while another finds
a substantial narrowing of the gap during the 1980’s, and stagnation in convergence after. We use
two data sources – the Long Term Trends NAEP and AFQT scores for the universe of applicants to the
U.S. military between 1976 and 1991 – to show: 1) the 1980’s convergence is due to relative improvements
across successive cohorts of blacks born between 1963 and the early 1970’s and not a secular narrowing
in the gap over time; and 2) the across-cohort gains were concentrated among blacks in the South.
We then demonstrate that the timing and variation across states in the AFQT convergence closely
tracks racial convergence in measures of health and hospital access in the years immediately following
birth. We show that the AFQT convergence is highly correlated with post-neonatal mortality rates
and not with neonatal mortality and low birth weight rates, and that this result cannot be explained
by schooling desegregation and changes in family background. We conclude that investments in health
through increased access at very early ages have large, long-term effects on achievement, and that
the integration of hospitals during the 1960’s affected the test performance of black teenagers in the
1980’s.



Philip Kovacs: Teach For America Research Fails the Test

On the web page where Teach For America shares research, they boldly state: "A large and growing body of independent research shows that Teach For America corps members make as much of an impact on student achievement as veteran teachers." I will show this is an absurd claim simply by analyzing the reports made public on their "research" page. I will not look at or includeother research which shows that TFA has negative effects on student test scores in some places, as others have already done so.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

November 2012 Best Information


Closing the achievement gap: Have we flat-lined?

My conclusion? There’s been no shrinkage in the test score gap between 2006 and 2012, a period in which many of Bloomberg and Klein’s reforms have begun to reach maturity. If the only purpose of their reforms were to close the achievement gap, this flat-lining would indicate that the reforms were dead on arrival.

Michele Rhee’s right turn

Rhee makes a point of applauding “leaders in both parties and across the ideological spectrum” because her own political success — and the success of school reform — depends upon the bipartisan reputation she has fashioned. But 90 of the 105 candidates backed by StudentsFirst were Republicans, including Tea Party enthusiasts and staunch abortion opponents. And Rhee’s above-the-fray bona fides have come under heavy fire as progressives and teachers unions increasingly cast the school reform movement, which has become virtually synonymous with Rhee’s name, as politically conservative and corporate-funded.


The Exhaustion of the American Teacher


Truth is, the problem with the American student is the American adult. Deadbeat dads, pushover moms, vulgar celebrities, self-interested politicians, depraved ministers, tax-sheltering CEOs, steroid-injecting athletes, benefit-collecting retirees who vote down school taxes, and yes, incompetent teachers—all take their turns conspiring to neglect the needs of the young in favor of the wants of the old. The line of malefactors stretches out before our children; they take turns dealing them drugs, unhealthy foods, skewed values messages, consumerist pap, emotional and physical and sexual traumas, racist messages of aspersion for their cultures, and countless other strains of vicious disregard. Nevertheless, many pundits and politicians are happy to train their rhetorical fire uniquely on the teachers, and the damnable hive-feast on the souls of our young continues unabated. We’re told not to worry because good teachers will simply overcome this American psychic cannibalism and drag our hurting children across the finish line ahead of the Finnish lions.
Yeah, right.

How Charter Schools Fleece Taxpayers

In her examination of Arizona’s 50 largest nonprofit charter schools and all of Arizona's nonprofit charter schools with assets exceeding $10 million, Ryman found “at least 17 contracts or arrangements, totaling more than $70 million over five years and involving about 40 school sites, in which money from the non-profit charter school went to for-profit or non-profit companies run by board members, executives or their relatives.” That says to me that in Arizona, at least, charter-school corruption isn’t the exception. It’s the rule. And that’s just in the nonprofit charter schools. Documentation for the for-profit schools is not publicly available. What are the odds that charter-school proprietors operating in the dark are less inclined to enrich themselves at public expense?