Having followed the corporate reform movement closely, I have noticed that the adherents of this strange movement think they have all the answers. They make grandiose promises, set impossible targets, and make impossible claims. And they are never held accountable. They like to arrange things so they don’t have to listen to anyone who disagrees with them.

Tom Sgouros, an engineer in Rhode Island, has been vocal in protesting the corporate steamroller. He has been especially vocal in opposing the use of the standardized NECAP test as a graduation requirement. But he has been ignored. If you want to see how easily it is to dismiss an intelligent critic, read this. Sgouros showed up for a public hearing  and waited for hours for his chance to testify. Eventually, he got two minutes to speak.

He concluded:

“What have I learned?  That there is essentially no forum in the state of Rhode Island in which one can address the kinds of technical concerns I have aired about the state Department of Education’s misuse of the NECAP tests. The people who are interested have no power to change the situation and the people with the power to change the situation apparently have no interest in hearing about it. The reporters dutifully report both sides (sometimes), but the conventions of modern journalism, along with the need to write for an audience who isn’t really familiar with the statistical issues involved mean that articles can’t even rise to the level of he said/she said. 

I have two daughters, five grades apart. Comparing their experiences is instructive. My town has a relatively high-performing school department. There have been several changes in our schools between my first and second daughter, and as far as I can see, they fall into two categories: budget cuts and NECAP prep. Before my younger daughter entered seventh grade, the school department did away with seventh-grade foreign language instruction in favor of a second period of reading — to address NECAP deficiencies. While in the eighth grade, part of her shop class was turned over to NECAP prep for math. In the ninth grade, she is not taking a year-long biology, chemistry, or physics class, but a year-long science survey class that hopes to touch on all the topics covered by the science NECAP. Have any of these changes actually improved her education?

Remember, this is a relatively high-performing district, but RIDE rules demand improvement every single year, even for districts that are already doing fine. It is a truism of policy studies that a regulation that sounds good — demanding constant improvement from everyone — can have seriously counter-productive results, but the evidence is rarely as stark.

“Along with the NECAP adjustments, budget constraints have had the music program cut back in the elementary grades, the high school has reduced the number of AP classes, and there are fewer buses to accommodate after-school activities. And much more.

“So far as I can see, not a single one of the changes in my town’s schools over the past five years between my children has had anything at all to do with improving the quality of the education, and the changes to accommodate the NECAP test have been every bit as destructive of my daughter’s educational opportunities as the budget cuts.

“So, buckle up everyone. The destruction of public education wrought by misguided RIDE testing policies has only just begun. Some people apparently buy the argument that simply demanding results gets results. For those of us who think this a dubious strategy, there is no real reason – beyond the personal promise of Deborah Gist – to think that these policies will improve education in Rhode Island and quite a number of reasons to think it will get a lot worse before it gets better. But if you want to bring these matters to anyone’s attention? Talk to the hand — for no more than two minutes.”