In the world of education research, few scholars have been as forthright and reliable as Bruce Baker of Rutgers. Whenever a study is published that makes miraculous claims, we can count on Bruce to put it under the microscope and see what was left out. Bruce has taught in high schools and understands that teaching is a difficult career and that progress is at best incremental. He is fearless, insightful, careful in his methodology, and–often–outrageously funny.
Happily, others have noticed. In this article, Gregory Ferenstein compares Bruce to Nate Silver, who developed a reputation for using statistics to puncture illusions.
Bruce Baker is a hero to all those who labor in the trenches and all those who oppose the current climate of “reform” frenzy, in which half-baked ideas are declared miracles and hard-working teachers are demonized.
I am happy to place him on the honor roll of this blog; I wish I could bestow something grander, like the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for bringing light and reason to an era of incoherence and shoddy thinking.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
great post– and sadly, truly, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is more likely to go to some of the nonsense peddlers that Bruce Baker routinely debunks . . .
Amen, Diane. Bruce’s blog is required reading for all lovers of public education. Absolutely indispensable.
I suspect there is a great need for the device Ferenstein identified in his last paragraph!
“Unless a study is randomized, rigorously controlled and published in a peer-reviewed journal, arm your bullshit meter if anyone is claiming they’ve found a scalable solution. Until then, follow Baker for his response on hyped-up reform stories. I do.”
I nominate him as Grand Vizier of ‘Splainin’ Things.
It is so aggravating to see these “foundations” collect data and then interpret it in a way to satisfy their funders! Most of the time it is a complete over exaggeration or a complete falsehood. The Press does not look at the data but only the interpretations and this then becomes the “fact” picked up by the Politicians and promoted by the “reformys”.
Dr. Baker has taken the time to investigate the data and the interpretations and to expose them as true falsehoods and outright lies! He has shown the flaws in VAM, SGP, Charter claims, and all the other “reformy” junk! He has exposed the “reform” as to what it really is Smoke and Mirrors!
Very cool to compare to Nate Silver. I have tweeted this and urge others to do the same or Facebook. This will get noticed as the comparison is “sweet.”
Standing up to the privileged and powerful defenders of the status quo is difficult—especially when you refuse to compromise your own ethical use of numbers and stats by massaging and distorting the figures like the edubullies and their accountabully underlings do all the time.
*From the Tortured Numbers Hall of Fame: 100% graduation rates anyone? 13th percentile to the 90th? 98% of teachers get a cursory “Satisfactory” on their evals?*
And, in the process, sacrifice all that $tudent $ucce$$. Thank you, Dr. Bruce Baker, for living up to the professional and moral challenges of our most cage busting achievement gap crushing innovative twenty first century.
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” [Mark Twain]
😎
P.S. Bruce Bake can be found at—
Link: http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com
Beat me to the punch with a link to schoolfinance101. I’m definitely a day late and more than a few dollars short.
Thanks for giving the link.
All should read Baker’s work!