Mercedes Schneider Reviews Dr. Steve Perry

By dianeravitch

May 19, 2013 //

Dr. Mercedes Schneider decided to review Dr. Steve Perry’s dissertation.

Dr. Perry, until recently, was CNN’s education expert.

She was not impressed.

Categories Corporate Reformers

19 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Robert Tellman says:

May 19, 2013 at 9:31 pm

You have a link to her review?

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- dianerav says:
  
  May 19, 2013 at 9:56 pm
  
  Re-open the post. I immediately added the link.
  
  Reply
Alan says:

May 19, 2013 at 9:45 pm

Click on the orange bit.

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Linda Johnson says:

May 19, 2013 at 10:00 pm

I knew he was a phony from the very beginning. I’ll bet CNN is embarrassed that they fell for this “expert.”

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- M. Schneider says:
  
  May 19, 2013 at 10:03 pm
  
  I forwarded the post to CNN. We’ll see what they decide to do with it.
  
  Reply
  - Linda says:
    
    May 19, 2013 at 10:06 pm
    
    Melissa Harris Perry has him on often.
Linda says:

May 19, 2013 at 10:05 pm

F R A U D……Perry serves and promotes Perry…he tells his teachers…cater and appease the middle class white parents……exact quote: “We want it to snow in here.”

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KrazyTA says:

May 19, 2013 at 11:31 pm

M. Schneider: another case of a luminary of the charterite/privatizer movement being [thank you, Linda!] an edufraud.

And his shoddy pseudo-scholarship cheapens all the dissertations that require significantly more time, effort and thought. I would say shame on him—but someone has already remarked that folks like him are shameless.

His comment [click on the link above] taken from rapper JZ that “Men lie and women lie but numbers don’t” is not only bizarrely inane [in at least oblique support of his spurious contention about student attrition at his charter] but also betrays a studied ignorance of the ethical use of numbers and statistics. Can he be so hopeless ignorant of even the rudiments of our cultural heritage that he isn’t aware of Disraeli’s oft-referenced observation that “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics”? Closer to home, “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable” [Mark Twain].

I never thought I would enlist them in such an endeavor, but Doctor Steve Perry—where are E. D. Hirsch and Bill Bennett when you need them?

🙂

Of course, I could have this all wrong. Maybe he just misinterpreted the Scottish poet and writer Andrew Lang and took the following as good advice to follow when he disencumbered himself of 43% of his charter students in order to make 57% equal 100% graduation rate: “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts — for support rather than illumination.”

In that case, my bad.

🙂

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- Rangoon78 says:
  
  May 20, 2013 at 9:44 am
  
  “So what about Steve Perry’s “near zero” dropout rate?
  
  Capital Preparatory Magnet School’s Class of 2011 “graduated” 28 students. Four years earlier, that class began with 43 students. That is an enrollment decline of about 35 percent. More than one-third of the students left or were pushed out of the program during their time at Capital Prep.
  
  And this was after they had gone through a complex application and lottery process to get into Capital Prep in the first place.
  
  These children didn’t “dropout” because they landed back in Hartford’s regular district schools.”
  
  http://jonathanpelto.com/tag/capital-preparatory-magnet-school/
  
  Reply
Chalk Face, PhD says:

May 20, 2013 at 6:49 am

Reblogged this on @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER and commented:
This is an amazing takedown, I absolutely love it. Love IT!!

Dr. this, Dr. that, the emperor has NO clothes.

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teachingeconomist says:

May 20, 2013 at 8:48 am

Education schools do pump out the doctorates. Education faculty members often have twice as many dissertation students in a given year as a faculty member in arts and sciences will have in a lifetime.

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- LG says:
  
  May 20, 2013 at 9:13 am
  
  As someone currently working my proverbial behind off to get an advanced degree in an education field, I disagree that education doctorates are simply “pumped out.” Doctorates are earned regardless of the number of candidates in these programs.
  
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  - teachingeconomist says:
    
    May 20, 2013 at 11:06 am
    
    I am not saying they are not earned, just that doctorates in education are a different beast than in the Iiberal arts and sciences. My department, for example, has averaged almost 56 doctoral students over the last few years taught by 18 tenure stream faculty. The ratio of doctoral students per tenure stream faculty member is about 3.1. The department of leadership and policy studies at the school of education at my university has averaged a little over 231 doctoral students over the last few years taught by 13 tenure stream faculty. The ratio of doctoral student per tenure stream faculty member is about 17.8, over five times that in my department.
  - Alice in PA says:
    
    May 20, 2013 at 1:10 pm
    
    Having worked on doctorates in both engineering and education, I agree that education doctorates are “pumped out” any more than other ones. Social science research is different than physical science but just as rigorous. I find that the social science research is much messier and difficult. In nuclear science, we are all working from the same paradigm and I knew how the atoms would react to neutron bombardment. I counted on it since I was using the reaction to measure the rate of diffusion of an isotope for some nuclear waste studies. However in education, I need to pick the theory of learning through which I will view my data. I make a conscious choice. I have a lot more variables to consider.
    Both require making a contribution to the field with some solid research…except, of course, in the case of Mr. Perry. The real problem is that the university would allow a doctorate approved by only a single faculty member. Someone needs to revoke their accreditation.
LG says:

May 20, 2013 at 9:07 am

Ahh, the reason I stopped watching CNN is Perry, and although he’s no longer a hired gun, CNN has not made up for its sins. Still won’t solicit that channel.

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- retiredbutmissthekids says:
  
  May 21, 2013 at 3:45 am
  
  Won’t watch CNN because they backhanded Diane, when Jim WALTON was CNN’s Worldwide President. Haven’t watched since.
  
  Reply
  - LG says:
    
    May 21, 2013 at 6:21 am
    
    Exactly. Despite my history of faithful viewership, CNN had slowly been losing my respect over the years with callous, holier-than-thou correspondents and sycophant-program hosts stacking their panels with corporate shills. I couldn’t stomach the luxury car commercials in between their reports on the recession. Perry’s rants were what pushed me away on a more permanent basis, but after what happened to Diane, I have no interest in ever going back as a viewer.
Jack says:

May 21, 2013 at 12:40 am

An interesting part of this is that people have been questioning Perry’s status as “Dr.” for quite a while now—much like they questioned Michelle Rhee’s claim that she took her students from the 13th to the 90th percentile… until Guy Brandenburg and others unearthed the data that thoroughly exposed this as a lie.

Well, like Rhee with her fraud being exposed, Dr. Perry’s day has now also come.

But again, it’s something people have been suspecting for years… just without any proof one way or another until now.

Here’s an example.

Two-and-a-half years ago, he did a so-called “interview” with one Brian Lehrer… which was nothing more than Perry vomiting up a nonsensical rant against teachers unions (back in November 2011):

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2011/nov/22/fighting-education/

Count down to the 12th comment and you see this (dated Nov. 22, 2011):

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“emjayay from Brooklyn

“I tried finding out exactly what Perry is a doctor of, as a commenter suggested. Sorry, but couldn’t find it. Every website connected with him is about how awesome he is, but nowhere is there anything about his Phd – where from, in what, what did his dissertation cover. Nothing. The only biographical fact (with no explanation)is that he grew up poor. Nothing about his experience as an educator either.

“One site was touting his upcoming bestseller book. That’s right, his latest book is a bestseller before even being published. Beat that. He is also a motivational speaker, meaning that unlike almost every other principal in the country, he makes a whole bunch of money revving up convention or corporate crowds in addition to his pay as principal.

“He could possibly be great at his job with no teaching experience and a GED, but the level of unattributed hype and lack of real information about him is interesting. And of course not questioned in any way by Brian Lehrer.

“Nov. 22 2011 12:51 PM”

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

The suspicions of “emjayjay” have now been confirmed.

“Dr.” Steve Perry is a total charlatan/ poverty pimp / con artist, who enriches himself by nonstop lying, and while trashing hard-working teachers.

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Nancy says:

May 31, 2013 at 12:30 pm

I personally know a child that has taken a direct hit from this egotistical, arrogant, deceitful, backstabbing, lying man. What can we do to prevent other children from this tyrant!

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