Troy LaRaviere, head of the Chicago Principals’ Association, writes that school officials adjusted the scores of Chicago charter schools to make it appear that they made bigger gains than originally reported.
The original data showed that students in public schools were. Performing better than their peers in charter school.
(Read Peter Greene here on this shenanigan.)
This is a small part of Laraviere’s findings:
“Our findings were published in a Chicago Sun-Times Op-Ed. In addition, the Sun-Times published its own independent analysis, which affirmed our findings. Our analysis was based on a file containing the school level results of the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment. This file was released by the CPS Office of Accountability in early August. That original file is no longer available on the Office of Accountability website. At some point between the publication of our findings and the release of school ratings, CPS removed the original file containing school growth data and replaced it with a different version. There are no indications or acknowledgements on the site that the data in the file has been changed.
“Fortunately, we saved the original version.
“An analysis of both versions indicates massive changes were made to the student growth data for charter schools at some point during the last few months as CPS delayed the release of school quality ratings.
“Findings
“We found these changes led to certain schools appearing to have greater academic growth by lowering the average pretest scores while leaving the posttest scores as they were. For other schools, the changes raised the pretest scores and once again left the posttest scores as they were, giving the impression of less student growth.
“The changes were made to the data for nearly every charter school while affecting less than 20 public schools. Charter school scores were changed by more than 50 percentile points in some cases while most of the public school changes were 2 points or less.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reported the story. LaRaviere said to the Sun-Times:
““In a system based on ‘choice,’ parents and other stakeholders must be provided with accurate indicators of school quality. [CPS’ ratings system] cannot serve this purpose if there are clouds of suspicion about tampering with the data used to determine these ratings,” LaRaviere said in an email.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
When I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s we called this fraud and people would be indicted and face a trial and jail time. While those weren’t the best of times in many respects…after reading this I sure do miss them.
The reification of test scores as indicators of “quality in education” and of “academic learning” is part of the problem. Data tampering one such measures is about preserving reputations and reflects a cosmetic regard for what matters most in the “accountability moment.” This is not a criticism of these data-tampering disclosures but a short rant on the larger problem being pre-occupied with test scores and aggrandizing these as measures of achievement.
Laura H. Chapman: in baseball terms, a four-bagger, i.e., a base-clearing home run.
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With the self-styled “education reformers” it’s all about appearances, or what they term “acccountability” as in “what counts” as in “what we can count/put a number on” as in “what our predetermined selfish purposes require.”
That is why I sometimes, not so much in parody as in a surprise acknowledgement of their intellectual and moral debt to the now-vanished Soviet Union, call the fundamental aims and polices of the “education reform” status quo—
The Potemkin Village Plan for $tudent $ucce$$. Just consider briefly… In order to impress visiting dignitaries, bureaucrats and other assorted VIPs, make up numbers that create the illusion of success, what you refer to as “a cosmetic regard for what matters most in the ‘accountability moment.’” The numbers were often Rheeal—but even when they were real, they were frequently useless and misleading, e.g., produce so many unwanted defective products of low quality that would sit in warehouses—but they met the quota on time!
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And you are quite right to question whether or not the numbers themselves are not only accurate and trustworthy but tell us anything useful and meaningful.
So it comes down to a proven Potemkin Village ploy. It’s all about staged pageantry. Make it look good. But do good—really? and not Rheeally, even in a Johnsonally sort of way?
Sheesh! You must be for a “better education for all.”
And we all know how Michael J Petrilli feels about “non-striver” pushers of “classroom cancer.”
Although, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind clinking glasses of ouzo with you at Pink Slip Bar & Grille, all on the Greek guy. I guess I’m on the wrong emailing lists too…
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Sorry, KTA but the replay umpire has overruled your call as a fan “helped” the ball over the wall. (kinda like what’s going on with the those test scores) He determined that Laura would have only made it to 3rd base so it’s a triple. But then the replay ump in an unprecedented move awarded a grand slam to N. Wilson for his inning before smash that knocked over the score board (much like his earlier “smash” in 1997 that destroyed the validity and reliability of educational standards and standardized testing for which he was awarded a double by the field umpires.
Señor Swacker: I sit, er, stand corrected.
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I owe you the next round at Pink Slip Bar & Grille.
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P.S. In my above comments, I inadvertently shortened the rheephorm playbook. Should read: Potemkin Village Business Plan for $tudent $ucce$$.
Guess I shouldn’t be doing my CCSS ‘closet’ reading without a supply of fresh flashlight batteries handy. Seems to shorten my attention span and weaken my memory.
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They cooked the numbers that the mayor wanted to see.
What did you expect, it’s the Chicago way! They are only numbers after all. Oh yeah, it’s just a numbers racket like the gamblers run, can I get a side bet please, here in Vegas they won’t set any odds on this event.
Value added renumerification. Give the numbers a massage and a hot towel, they deserve it.
TC: to mangle a perfectly good statement—“a threat to charter/privatizer numbers anywhere is a threat to $tudent $ucce$$ everywhere”—I hasten to inform you that the first-round of numbers supporting those critical of self-styled “education reform” were subjected for long periods of time to stress positions, repeatedly cleaned with boards full of water, and forced fed in, uh, unmentionable ways.
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That’s why they sang a different tune the second time. And this time you can count on their truthiness.
But no vital organs of ethics or honesty or professionalism of numbers/stats people were harmed. The new narrative is, I am assured by all and sundry, as solid as 100% graduation rates in charter schools and taking students from the 13th percentile to the 90th.
¿😧?
Makes a lot of ₵ent¢, don’t you think?
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And then Rahm Emmanuel says, Whaddaya mean that Tony Bennett got caught?
Indiana’s only a pebble’s toss away from Chicago. I think Tony “I love sound bites against public school” Bennett would feel welcome in the machinery of the Chicago educational-industrial complex, especially after dealing with us “corn-fed hicks” who didn’t like hhis city-fied ways and tossed him out of office.
It’s actually going the other way. Hoosiers carpetbagging their way to Illinois
Teachers in Atlanta were fired for a cheating scandal. The same rule of law should be applied here. There needs to be an investigation, followed by consequences , if wrong doing is confirmed.
The Atlanta teachers and administrators were not just fired, but were indicted under federal racketeering statutes, which is precisely what should happen here, as well.
They should lose their jobs, be fined, and then jailed. The law should be applied equally to anybody, regardless of political party and regardless of their ranking in the hierarchy. If higher-ups demanded the wrongdoing, they should get extra punishment. Throw them into a charter prison!
The only ones punished would be those who physically doctored the numbers. Those truly responsible would deny knowledge of wrong doing and demand that those responsible be punished to the full extent of the law. So far everyone seems to be just ignoring it.
The problem in Atlanta, as will be the problem in Chicago, to whatever extent anyone is fired/prosecuted/etc., is that it’s the low-level minions that take the hit, not the bosses who ordered everything in the first place. Not that “I was only following orders” is an excuse, but I’m far more interested in those giving the orders than those taking them.
“Account ability”
Account ability
Enron style
Cooking utility
Charter guile
Is ANYTHING going to be done to the people responsible? I see a lot of rhetoric above that seems to be saying no, but I can’t believe that NOTHING will be done. Is it one of those dealios where no one can identify who made the alterations?
I think the people and the media in Chicago have to pressure Emmanuel to investigate these charges. Otherwise, they will sweep it under the rug.
Emanuel would have to rig the investigation too. He knows it leads right back to his front door. Or, at least, his back door.
RE will never investigate… He’s ordering the hit.
The findings should not be surprising. When politicians get involved “truth” flies out the door. Protect your backsides. Use only those statistics which bolster that which you wish to promote. Ad nauseum.
NPR has a good piece on for-profit colleges opening charter schools. It’s much bigger than the one school in Indiana:
“Starting this past spring, parents in Indianapolis; Troy, Mich.; Jacksonville and Tampa, Fla.; and Houston, Texas, heard about a new option for their children’s last two years of high school.
In each city, a charter school called Early Career Academy planned to offer students the chance to earn associate degrees, either in network systems administration or software development, alongside their high school diplomas. Students were offered laptops to work on and ebooks to use. All for free.
But the schools are meeting opposition, largely because of the organization behind them: ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit college with tens of thousands of students, 145 physical locations and a checkered reputation. Like the rest of the for-profit college sector, the value of ITT’s educational offerings is coming under increased federal scrutiny.”
I thought nothing could surprise me, but this does. Are ed reformers completely insane? How does this possibly end well?
“The story of ITT and Early Career Academy illustrates the intersection of two trends: the changing business models of some for-profit education companies and the changing governance of charter public schools.
Experts say this is the first time a proprietary college has sought to get into the charter school business.”
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/12/14/369925385/a-for-profit-college-tries-the-charter-school-market
“Are ed reformers completely insane?” No, just corrupt and totally motivated by profit. They are so insulated by politicians that they have bought-off, getting to them is often difficult. The best way to neutralize them is by catching them when they screw up and publicizing the action voraciously… Websites such as this one, ALEC Exposed, etc. provide forums for doing so…Concerned parties will must stay vigilant and beat the charlatans to the punch.
Ridicule and derision…and shining a 1-million watt spotlight on these undead reformers before you drag them, staked and screaming, into broad daylight.
I suspect Troy LaRaviere would prefer that you know that the President of the Chicago Principals Association is Clarice Berry. From my outsider vantage, let me say that I am so glad he is a member of the organization, as I believe his courageous “coming out” gave new life to this group.
Moving the goal posts and /or having a completely different set of standards for evaluating charters is SOP for the charter sector, it’s the only way they can manufacture the illusion of overall success. Remember this from Malloy’s Connecticut?
“Nor did the state mention AFBA’s shrinking cohort, from 83 students in fifth grade to 65 in eighth. Not only does the shrinking cohort distort the vertical-scale scores, but it raises serious questions about whether Achievement First pushed lower performing children out.
Stamford Academy, a high school, has never made AYP in its eight years. The state’s report notes that the school has shown no trend in improving scores in any subject. The school’s math scores have been declining. Last year, 9.5 percent of the students reached proficiency in math.
Yet the state granted it reauthorization.
These schools failed the very metric used to judge public schools, but the state cherry-picked statistics in order to reward them with tax dollars.”
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Wendy-Lecker-State-uses-double-standard-when-3741280.php#ixzz220uSbV5N
Vice president of the Missouri state board had to explain why it was all white people in the final five for state commissioner……he is a prominent afto-american leader from St. Louis…..time for a song by Bob Dylan again……’something here is happening, and you don’t know what it is….do you….Mr. Jones” . Mike Jones of St. Louis, vice president of the state board and one of two African-American members, said that lack of diversity in the candidate pool shouldn’t be a surprise.
“As long as the state capital is in Jefferson City,” he said in an interview “and the state pays what it pays, attracting top-flight minority talent is always going to be a problem for Missouri. I’m not surprised that you didn’t get a serious African-American or other minority candidates.”
I recommended this article to him and the rest of the board, to keep an eye on charter schools changing scores….might cost the state money….I asked him……would the Cardinals start imitating the cubs??? http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/lack-diversity-noted-school-commissioner-search
The debate about which is better, district or charter, gets us nowhere. There are outstanding district & outstanding charters serving various groups – whether those groups are youngsters with whom traditional schools have not succeeded, or families interested in Montessori schools, or language immersion schools, etc. etc.
Unfortunately both district & charter advocates have contributed to questionable research. It’s time to focus on what the most effective schools are doing, honor those educators and give others opportunities to work with and learn from them.