The Laura and John Arnold Foundation in Houston made a gift of $25 million to a group called New Schools for New Orleans to create and expand more high performing charter schools in that much touted city.
John Arnold made a fortune as a trader at Enron.
The hype surrounding New Orleans is so commonplace that many struggling urban districts are told that they should switch to an all-charter model so they could be as successful as New Orleans.
Mercedes Schneider looked at the latest publication of New Schools for New Orleans and recognized the presentation as a slick PR document, with colorful graphs and dramatic claims. But, she writes, none of it is true. New Orleans is a low-performing district in a low-performing state.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane,
Have you analyzed and verified that Mercedes’ claims are reasonable?
Ken, all of my posts are grounded in research and include numerous links for verification of what I write.
I assure you, my “claims” are beyond “reasonable.”
Feel free to check it out yourself.
Despite your assurances, I still wonder if Diane analyzed and verified your claims. I’m guessing that there are opposing points of view, although I’d understand if this website is not the place for that sort of thing.
So why bother coming here Ken?
Why don’t you read and make your own decision. Post your research if you have any.
Linda: I have a little experience in assisting teachers in brick-and-mortar classrooms, so if you would be so kind, let me briefly serve on your online TA in this instance. I am sure you have a few fires that need lighting first* [*I refer, natcherly, to the pithy observation by Yeats that “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”]
Reading and making decisions on one’s own can be a daunting, even daringly risky proposition for many. I am here to help. So starting near the beginning of her piece, let’s look at several examples of how Dr. Schneider models thinking on one’s own. Conflating [please use your dictionary] the Orleans Parish Schools with the Recovery School District-New Orleans to make the latter look better seems impossible to ever ferret out, much less execute. How could even the Kraziest of MathLadies have uncovered that one? And then there is that matter of assuming that something close to 100 looks pretty darn good to the average person, so that 93.7 is almost at the 100 mark. How in the world could someone have caught that? Is she also an expert in PsychoBabbology? And last but not least, her passing remark about presenting data in a misleadingly truncated graph in order to make gains look bigger than they are—perhaps we are dealing here with an EduGenius???
With all due apologies to KrazyMathLady, a force for good in the ed debates, it turns out that she is not alone—and certainly not the first—in paying attention to such matters.
So for the delectation and delight of the readers of this blog, I present the following in chronological order so that you too can begin to “Think Like a KrazyMathLady”:
1), Darrel Huff, HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS (1954), a classic, and much much younger than the actual KrazyMathLady. Turns out that politicians and advertising agencies, among others, have for a long time drawn the wrong moral out of Mark Twain’s admonitory observation that “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.” I must admit to being shocked and amazed at how long it has been true that “figures don’t lie but liars figure,” but there you have it.
2), Gerald Bracey, ‘READING EDUCATION RESEARCH: HOW TO AVOID GETTING STATISTICALLY SNOOKERED (2006). Caveat emptor: the author has opinions; be on guard, lest you learn something new and useful.
3), Daniel Koretz, MEASURING UP: WHAT EDUCATIONAL TESTING REALLY TELLS US (paperback edition 2009). Again, buyer beware: the author has produced, administered, scored and evaluated tests, and has somehow reached the conclusion that the scores of high-stakes standardized tests do not substitute for experience, compassion and careful human judgment. Go figure [a numbers/stats joke].
I almost forgot a crucial bit of advice: to get any benefit from the above books you have to read them first, and then perhaps you will be able to form your own opinions. It might even lead to even further reading and reflection. Fire, fire everywhere, and not a roll of masking tape in sight…
Ok, lesson over. Taking my cue from the education establishment, I have excessed myself and am no longer an online TA.
But I was happy to lend Linda a hand for a moment or two.
🙂
I need my daily KTA…what would we do without you?
M. Schneider: my bad.
😦
In my above comment re Darrell Huff’s HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS, change “a classic, and much much younger than the actual KrazyMathLady” to “a classic, while the actual KrazyMathLady is much much younger.”
Darn! That’s what comes from following too closely the highly touted Common Bore standards.
How was I supposed to know that even if the words pass spell check, that they are supposed to hang together and make good sense?
Then again, maybe I need a refresher course in logic and persuasive writing. How come people were surprised by Arne’s deft use of Campbell’s Law in a recent speech? After all, is there anyone more acquainted with putting it into effect than him?
🙂
KrazyTA, no problem with typos and my age.:)
I enjoyed reading your online TA discourse.
I’m sure your concern for Diane is not lost on her.
Anyone is able to click a link. I don’t hide them.
And in the end, it is her blog and her reputation that she has decided is worth associating with my work.
So I wouldn’t worry too much about Diane. She is able to sort the truth from the fiction.
My work is the real deal.
It’s been well established here that the schools in New Orleans have D and F ratings. No miracles. A total sham. I’m really sick of reading about super wealthy crooks undermining regular public schools. When does it end?
Anyone who cares to do a bit of reading and searching can easily dig up the truth about NOLA miracle charter schools. It seems that the really bad ones disappear from the data and are replaced by shiny new ones. Even so their scores still aren’t that great. D’s and F’s abound. Yet the spin continues by the dept of Ed and NOLA Edudeformers. Thanks to Dr. Schneider, the rest of our Louisiana bloggers, and others like Research on Reforms, we can finally see
the little man behind the curtain.
Mercedes,
Readers of this blog know of your important work, and can see through Ken Hirsch’s disingenuous – “Gee, I’m just asking a question!” – attempts to divert the discussion.
For the non-New Yorkers on this site, Mr. Hirsh is a hedge fund-based charter school investor who typically uses this faux-innocent ruse to mislead people involved in this debate.
Thanks for the tip Mike…now we know.
Thanks, Michael. I appreciate your words. I know about Hirsch. My response about Diane was meant to be “tongue in cheek.”
Mercedes,
Check your home page for the Hart AFT survey.
Duane
Got it.
It seems to me that any time start up corporations are involved, they are able to cut their losses and “move on” often with tax wrtite-offs. In Ohio, they seem to just change their names. Failing charter schools can close and reopen the next day under a new entity. They seem to know how to “play the game”.
Just like those hedgefund managers and bankers who moved stocks and loans around so that no one could track down the guilty parties, the private school owners can play the same shell game. The product, education, is just another commodity. No qualms about anything being lost or damaged, except in this case, the loss is to CHILDREN.
They seem to invest in the buildings and physical things so they can resell the charter to make money. No need to waste money on teacher salaries and benefits.
Sent from my iPhone