Yesterday’s report in the New York Times about low test scores for students in charter schools generated considerable attention, particularly from Education Secretary (and charter school advocate) Rod Paige.
The data that showed poor student performance came from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is widely considered by education professionals to be the “report card” on schools in America. However, when the 2003 data was published by Paige’s Education Dept., it was practically a secret. The information was hidden amongst “mountains of data” and the public was not even made aware of the fact that the data was available.
“I guess that was poor publicity on our part,” said Robert Lerner, the federal commissioner for education statistics.
Yeah, Bob, I guess it was.
Yesterday, however, Paige lashed out at the reliability of the data his own cabinet agency requested and relies upon, “challeng[ing] the conclusion” of the test results. True to form, Paige’s criticism came by way of a written statement — and the Education Secretary refused to answer questions about the issue from the press.
How typical.
Officials who helped compile the test scores in the first place stand by the results and found Paige’s criticism unfounded.
The secretary’s reaction prompted surprise from Darvin Winnick, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the national test for the federal government. Mr. Winnick said that while he would interpret the scores with caution, he did not see much cause for arguing with the outcomes themselves.
“The data is probably what it is,” Mr. Winnick said. “N.A.E.P. is pretty accurate. There shouldn’t be any question about the results.”
But therein lies the problem (or one of them, anyway) with the Bush administration. The results conflict with Bush’s agenda, so naturally the results have to be wrong. How wrong? They refuse to say, because that would involve answering questions, which they don’t particularly care to do.
And, as Kevin Drum noted, it’s not only misguided as a matter of politics, it’s actually counterproductive as a matter of policy.
George Bush has…repeatedly insisted that both schools and educational programs in general should be judged on scientific evidence. Except, apparently, when that evidence is unfavorable to his ideological worldview — which is pretty much the story for this entire administration, isn’t it? They know what they want, and facts on the ground just don’t change their minds.
It’s mind-bogglingly stupid, as if ignoring the evidence will make the problem go away. And what’s worse, this attitude actually hurts the charter school cause, since it’s only by paying attention to data like this that charter school problems can be addressed. Ignore it, and in a few years a new (and worse) report will come out and the whole charter school movement will be doomed.