19 See, for example, John F. Witte, Troy D. Sterr, and Christopher A. Thorn, Fifth-Year Report: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (Madison, WI: Robert LaFollette Institute of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995); Paul E. Peterson, “A Critique of the Witte Evaluation of Milwaukee’s School Choice Program,” Occasional Paper 95-2, Harvard University Center for American Political Studies, 1995.
20 Cecelia Elena Rouse and Lisa Barrow, “School Vouchers and Student Achievement: Recent Evidence and Remaining Questions,” Annual Review of Economics 1 (2009), 17-42. A study of the Florida voucher program in 2009 found that the 23,259 students using publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools did no better or worse than similar students in public schools. The study, commissioned by the state legislature, was conducted by economist David Figlio; Ron Matus, “Study Finds Vouchers Don’t Make Difference,” St. Petersburg Times, June 30, 2009.
21 Patrick J. Wolf, The Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Summary of Baseline Reports, SCDP Milwaukee Evaluation Report #1 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas, 2008), 9; Alan J. Borsuk, “Voucher Study Finds Parity,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 26, 2008.
22 Patrick J. Wolf, The Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Summary of Second Year Reports, SCDP Milwaukee Evaluation Report #6 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas, 2009), 11; Alan J. Borsuk, “Study Finds Results of MPS and Voucher School Students Are Similar,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 26, 2009.
23 Patrick J. Wolf et al., Evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Two Years; Executive Summary (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, June 2008), xiii-xiv; Wolf et al., Evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years; Executive Summary (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2009), v.
24 Wolf et al., Evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years; Executive Summary, v-vi, xiv-xviii.
25 Alan J. Borsuk, Sarah Carr, and Leonard Sykes Jr., “Inside Choice Schools: 15 Years of Vouchers,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 12-18, 2005; Carr, “Teachers Paid from Sale of Mercedes,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , December 17, 2005.
26 Borsuk, Carr, and Sykes, “Inside Choice Schools: 15 Years of Vouchers”; Martin Carnoy, Frank Adamson, and Amita Chudgar, Vouchers and Public School Performance: A Case Study of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute, 2007), 2; Borsuk, “20,000 Students Now Use Vouchers,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 9, 2008.
27 Bill Turque, “37,000 to Start D.C. Public School Year, Well Below Budgeted Figure,” Washington Post, August 24, 2009; Jessica Gresko, “D.C. Public Schools to Fire 388, Cites Budget Cuts,” Washington Times, October 3, 2009. See also Jack Buckley and Mark Schneider, Charter Schools: Hope or Hype? (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007), 25.
28 National Center for Education Statistics, The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2007 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2007), 54, 62; The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2007 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2007), 50, 58.
29 Sam Dillon, “Collapse of 60 Charter Schools Leaves Californians Scrambling,” New York Times, September 17, 2004.
30 Kristen A. Graham, “SRC Told Firms Need New Role,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 11, 2009; Brian Gill et al., State Takeover, School Restructuring, Private Management, and Student Achievement in Philadelphia (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2007), 39-41; Ron Zimmer et al., “Evaluating the Performance of Philadelphia’s Charter Schools,” Working Paper, RAND Education, Mathematica Policy Research, and Research for Action, 2008, iii. See also Kristen A. Graham, “Study: District-Run Phila. Schools Top Manager-Run Ones,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 9, 2009.
31 Martha Woodall, “Charter Schools’ Problems Surfacing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 29, 2008; Dan Hardy, “Charter School Appeals to Block Release of Records,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 11, 2009.
32 Buckley and Schneider, Charter Schools: Hope or Hype?, 81-88.
33 Jeanne Russell and Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, “Just How Well Have Charter Schools Worked?” San Antonio Express-News, January 28, 2007.
34 KIPP Web site, www.kipp.org/01/; see Jay Mathews, Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2009).
35 James Vaznis, “Charter Schools Lag in Serving the Neediest,” Boston Globe, August 12, 2009.
36 Jeffrey R. Henig, What Do We Know About the Outcomes of KIPP Schools? (Boulder, CO, and Tempe, AZ: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit, 2008), 13; Katrina R. Woodworth et al., San Francisco Bay Area KIPP Schools: A Study of Early Implementation and Achievement, Final Report (Menlo Park, CA: SRI International, 2008), ix, 26-29, 33-34, 63.
37 F. Howard Nelson, Bella Rosenberg, and Nancy Van Meter, Charter School Achievement on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (Washington, D.C.: American Federation of Teachers, August 2004); Diana Jean Schemo, “Charter Schools Trail in Results, U.S. Data Reveals,” New York Times, August 17, 2004; National Center for Education Statistics, America’s Charter Schools: Results from the NAEP 2003 Pilot Study (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2004), 1.
38 “Charter School Evaluation Reported by The New York Times Fails to Meet Professional Standards,” display advertisement, New York Times, August 25, 2004; Caroline M. Hoxby, Achievement in Charter Schools and Regular Public Schools in the United States: Understanding the Differences (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University and National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004).
39 Chester E. Finn Jr., “No August Break in Charter-land,” Education Gadfly, August 19, 2004, www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/index.cfm?issue=159#a1941.
40 Martin Carnoy, Rebecca Jacobsen, Lawrence Mishel, and Richard Rothstein, The Charter School Dust-Up: Examining the Evidence on Enrollment and Achievement (Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute and Teachers College Press, 2005), 122-123.
41 Schemo, “Public Schools Perform Near Private Ones in Study,” New York Times, July 15, 2006; Henry Braun, Frank Jenkins, and Wendy Grigg, Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2006), iii-v.
42 Christopher Lubienski and Sarah Theule Lubienski, Charter, Private, Public Schools and Academic Achievement: New Evidence from NAEP Mathematics Data (New York: National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2006), 2-5, 40. See also Ron Zimmer et al., Charter Schools in Eight States: Effects on Achievement, Attainment, Integration, and Competition (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2009).
43 Erik W. Robelen, “NAEP Gap Continuing for Charters: Sector’s Scores Lag in Three Out of Four Main Categories,” Education Week, May 21, 2008, 1, 14.
44 Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Thomas Kane, et al., Informing the Debate: Comparing Boston’s Charter, Pilot and Traditional Schools (Boston: The Boston Foundation, 2009), 39; Boston Globe, “Top-Scoring Schools on the 10th Grade MCAS,” 2008, www.boston.com/news/special/education/mcas/scores08/10th_top_schools.htm; Jennifer Jennings, “The Boston Pilot/Charter School Study: Some Good News, and Some Cautions,” Eduwonkette blog, January 7, 2009, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/eduwonkette/2009/01/the_boston_pilotcharter_school.html.
45 Vaznis, “Charter Schools Lag in Serving the Neediest.”
46 Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States (Stanford, CA: Stanford University, 2009); Lesli A. Maxwell, “Study Casts Doubt on Charter School Results,” Education Week, June 15, 2009.
47 Caroline M. Hoxby, Sonali Murarka, and Jenny Kang, How New York City’s Charter Schools Affect Achievement (Cambridge, MA: New York City Charter Schools Evaluation Project, 2009); Jennifer Medina, “Study Shows Better
Scores for Charter School Students,” New York Times, September 22, 2009; Wall Street Journal, “Do Charters ‘Cream’ the Best?” September 24, 2009; Washington Post, “Charter Success,” September 27, 2009.
48 Tom Loveless and Katharyn Field, “Perspectives on Charter Schools,” in Handbook of Research on School Choice, ed. Mark Berends, Matthew G. Springer, Dale Ballou, and Herbert J. Walberg (New York: Routledge, 2009), 111-112.
49 Buckley and Schneider, Charter Schools: Hope or Hype?, 267.
50 Barack Obama, “President Obama’s Remarks to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,” New York Times, March 10, 2009; USA Today, “Obama Wants 5K Closed Schools to Rebound,” May 11, 2009; Michele McNeil, “Racing for an Early Edge,” Education Week, July 15, 2009.
CHAPTER EIGHT
1 Scoring errors are not uncommon. In March 2006, the College Board confirmed that scoring errors on the SAT affected over 4,600 students; in the same month, the Educational Testing Service settled a case for $11 million involving scoring errors on tests used for teacher certification, which affected 27,000 test takers. Karen W. Arenson, “Testing Errors Prompt Calls for Oversight,” New York Times, March 18, 2006; for an analysis of testing errors and their causes, see Kathleen Rhoades and George Madaus, Errors in Standardized Tests: A Systemic Problem (Chestnut Hill, MA: National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy, Lynch School of Education, Boston College, 2003).
2 College Board, “Score Range,” www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/scores/understanding/scorerange.html; College Board, “Effects of Coaching on SAT Scores,” www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/ra/sat/coaching.pdf.
3 National Research Council, High Stakes: Testing for Tracking, Promotion, and Graduation, ed. Jay P. Heubert and Robert M. Hauser (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999), 275-276.
4 Robert L. Linn, “The Concept of Validity in the Context of NCLB,” in The Concept of Validity: Revisions, New Directions, and Applications, ed. Robert W. Lissitz (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2009), 195-212.
5 Ibid., 200.
6 Joshua Benton and Holly K. Hacker, “Analysis Shows TAKS Cheating Rampant,” Dallas Morning News, June 3, 2007.
7 Jennifer L. Jennings, “School Choice or Schools’ Choice? Managing in an Era of Accountability,” paper, Annual Meeting, American Sociological Association, New York City, August 2007; two principals of small high schools of choice told Jennings that careful selection of students was “a matter of organizational survival” in the age of accountability (31); Maria Sacchetti and Tracy Jan, “Pilot Schools Setting More Hurdles,” Boston Globe, July 8, 2007.
8 Martin Carnoy, Rebecca Jacobsen, Lawrence Mishel, and Richard Rothstein, The Charter School Dust-Up: Examining the Evidence on Enrollment and Achievement (New York: Economic Policy Institute and Teachers College Press, 2005), 29-65; Richard Rothstein, “Holding Accountability to Account: How Scholarship and Experience in Other Fields Inform Exploration of Performance Incentives in Education,” Working Paper 2008-04, National Center on Performance Incentives, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., 2008, 40-41.
9 Jennings, “School Choice or Schools’ Choice?” 34-36.
10 David N. Figlio and Lawrence S. Getzler, “Accountability, Ability and Disability: Gaming the System,” Working Paper 9307, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2002; Richard Rothstein, Rebecca Jacobsen, and Tamara Wilder, Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right (Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute and Teachers College Press, 2008), 67-70; Laurel Rosenhall and Phillip Reese, “Schools Reclassify Students, Pass Test Under Federal Law,” Sacramento Bee, April 27, 2008. See also Linda McSpadden McNeil et al., “Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability and the Dropout Crisis,” Education Policy Analysis Archives 16, no. 3 (January 31, 2008).
11 Meredith Kolodner and Rachel Monahan, “Can You Do These Math Tests? With Easier Exams This Year, News Puts You to the Challenge,” New York Daily News, June 7, 2009.
12 Rothstein et al., Grading Education, 69; New York State Education Department, “Testing Accommodations for Former Limited English Proficient /English Language Learners,” Albany, New York, October 2008, 1, www.emsc.nysed.gov/sar/accommodations10-08.pdf.
13 Edith Starzyk, Scott Stephens, and Thomas Ott, “Districts ‘Scrubbing’ Away Thousands of Students’ Test Scores,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 8, 2008.
14 New York State Education Department, “Grade 3-8 Math Results 2009,” slide 42, www.emsc.nysed.gov/irts/ela-math/2009/math/2009Math-FINAL-5-29-09.ppt; Meredith Kolodner and Rachel Monahan, “Low Test Standards Are a Form of Social Promotion, Say Experts,” New York Daily News, July 15, 2009; New York State Education Department, “English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematic [sic] Assessment Results,” www.emsc.nysed.gov/irts/ela-math/; New York City Department of Education, “NYC Results on the New York State 2006-2009 English Language Arts (ELA) Test (Grades 3-8),” http://schools.nyc.gov/accountability/Reports/Data/TestResults/2009/ELA/2006-2009_ELA_Citywide_ALL_Tested_web.xls.
15 New York State Education Department, “Regents Examination in Integrated Algebra, June 2009: Chart for Converting Total Test Raw Scores to Final Examination Scores (Scale Scores),” www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/concht/june09/ia-cc-609.pdf; New York State Education Department, “Regents Examination in Living Environment, June 2009: Chart for Converting Total Test Raw Scores to Final Examination Scores (Scale Scores),” www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/concht/june09/livenvcc-609.pdf.
16 Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, Still Left Behind: Student Learning in Chicago’s Public Schools (Chicago: Commercial Club, 2009), 2, 6-11; Greg Toppo, “Chicago Schools Report Contradicts Obama and Duncan,” USA Today, July 12, 2009.
17 Steve Koss, “Test Score Inflation: Campbell’s Law at Work,” in NYC Schools Under Bloomberg and Klein: What Parents, Teachers, and Policymakers Need to Know, ed. Leonie Haimson and Ann Kjellberg (New York: Lulu, 2009), 87-94, www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/nyc-schools-under-bloomberg-klein-what-parents-teachers-and-policymakers-need-to-know/7214189.
18 National Research Council, High Stakes, 279.
19 Daniel Koretz, Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 253-255.
20 Ibid., 242-247.
21 Donald T. Campbell, “Assessing the Impact of Planned Social Change,” in Social Research and Public Policies: The Dartmouth/OECD Conference, ed. G. M. Lyons (Hanover, NH: Public Affairs Center, Dartmouth College, 1975), 35.
22 Koretz, Measuring Up, 237-239.
23 Rothstein et al., Grading Education, 45-52.
24 Education Week, “Two Lenses: Academic Achievement,” in Quality Counts 2009, January 8, 2009, 39.
25 T. Keung Hui, “Too Much School Testing, Panel Says,” News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), November 19, 2007.
26 For a historical discussion of the tendency to excuse students from responsibility for their learning, see Paul A. Zoch, Doomed to Fail: The Built-in Defects of American Education (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004).
27 Jason Snipes, Fred Doolittle, and Corinne Herlihy, Foundations for Success: Case Studies of How Urban School Systems Improve Student Achievement (Washington, D.C.: Council of the Great City Schools, 2002), 169-176; Deinya Phenix, Dorothy Siegel, Ariel Zaltsman, and Norm Fruchter, “Virtual District, Real Improvement: A Retrospective Evaluation of the Chancellor’s District, 1996-2003” (New York: Institute for Education and Social Policy, New York University, 2004).
28 Cecilia Elena Rouse, Jane Hannaway, Dan Goldhaber, and David Figlio, “Feeling the Florida Heat? How Low-Performing Schools Respond to Voucher and Accountability Pressure,” Working Paper #13, CALDER, Urban Institute, Washington, D.C., 2007, 5-7, 22; Dan Goldhaber and Jane Hannaway, “Accountability with a Kicker: Preliminary Observations on the Florida A+ Accountability Plan,” Phi Delta Kappan 85, no. 8 (2004): 598-605.
29 Beverly L. Hall, “Who’s In Charge of Atlanta Public Schools?” State of the Schools Address, Atlanta Public Sc
hools, August 19, 2008; Lesli A. Maxwell, “Atlanta’s Own ‘Hall’ of Famer,” Education Week, November 12, 2008; National Center for Education Statistics, The Nation’s Report Card: Trial Urban District Assessment, Mathematics 2007 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2007), 3; National Center for Education Statistics, The Nation’s Report Card: Trial Urban District Assessment, Reading 2007 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2007), 3; American Association of School Administrators, “Atlanta School Leader Beverly Hall Named 2009 National Superintendent of the Year,” press release, February 20, 2009, www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=1592.
30 Robert Glaser, “Commentary by the National Academy of Education,” in The Nation’s Report Card: Improving the Assessment of Student Achievement , chairmen, Lamar Alexander and H. Thomas James (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Education, 1987), 51.
CHAPTER NINE
1 David Nakamura, “Fenty to Oust Janey Today,” Washington Post, June 12, 2007; critics were not persuaded by her claims because of the lack of independent evidence. See www.dailyhowler.com/dh071107.shtml.
The Death and Life of the Great American School System Page 34