Americans have been led to believe that intelligence is like body weight, and the different intellectual levels of different people can be measured on a single, standardized weight scale.
Conflating intelligence with achievement is dishonest. Cognitive tests measure supposed innate ability, while achievement tests measure what students have learned.
To believe in the existence of any sort of racial hierarchy is actually to believe in a racist idea. The achievement gap between the races–with Whites and Asians at the top and Blacks and Latinos at the bottom–is a racial hierarchy. And this popular racial hierarchy has been constructed by our religious faith in standardized testing.
If the "achievement gap" as a concept was founded on the belief in a racial hierarchy, that in fact would be aa "racist idea." Yet, the achievement gap's most literal definition is the racialized gaps in outcomes specifically on achievement (not IQ) tests. Achievement tests measure what students have learned and what they can demonstrate that they learned. If there is a racial hierarchy that is formed out of the assessment process it isn't in the process itself as much as in the teaching and learning outcomes from the system.
Let’s get something straight: The pre-Katrina school system was actually horrible. It was the second lowest-performing district in a state which perennially has been at or near the bottom of national education rankings. Nearly half of public school students didn’t graduate from high school. Most school buildings were in a sorry state of disrepair. Corruption pervaded nearly every level of the school system. In short, anyone who experienced the educational disaster that was New Orleans Public Schools prior to the storm would have to be delusional to assert otherwise.
It seems as though Katrina washed a city's mind clean, and now no one remembers the previous school district was the most corrupt in the country.
Given that fact, most journalists would probably turn to someone else for an unbiased view on charters or, at the very least, give readers a clearer picture of his background.
This is how we know "journalists" are doing lazy field work in NOLA. They always come up with the same few people for quotes. How is that?
Pushing Hillary can wait until after she is elected.
This is the type of thing writers say when they have their own children in expensive schools. For others desperately needing better options now, this is a sad example of how far off base our talented 10th can be.
The real bait and switch is reformers’ selling school choice as justice. Too few are buying.
This is not true.
First, there is nothing just about limiting school options just to those - like the author - who can afford private schools, or to move where public schools perform well.
Second, no one is "selling" school choice. When choice programs are offered they find high demand from low-income parents seeking better opportunities for their children. The programs sell themselves when offered.
Finally, failing to acknowledge the cynical attempt by teachers' unions to trap poor students into the schools where their members earn a living is intellectually corrupt.
political victory
In fact, this "victory" threatens to make public education less accountable to expecting better results for low-income students.
President Obama
Sadly, President Obama is no longer the Democratic candidate for the office of U.S. president. Hillary Clinton is the candidate. Google it. It's true.
political process
Democrats For Education Reform are working within the political process by supporting candidates brave enough the educational hegemony that resists policies known to improve student outcomes. Among those policies are the development of independent public schools and expanding educational options for marginalized communities. DFER also holds politicians to account when they fail to support reasonable reforms to public education.
Reformers’ selling school choice as justice
Should low-income students have access to the same private schools that the author has?