StudentsFirst, the school “reform” outfit led by the notorious Michelle Rhee, is out with a state-by-state Report Card on the nation’s schools. Grades were awarded on the basis of states’ conformity to the standard reform agenda—ease of creating charter schools, ease of firing teachers, ease of hiring teachers who aren’t certified in the traditional fashion, and testing testing testing. In the past, there’s never been any evidence that this agenda actually improves educational outcomes—and this report is no exception. Despite Rhee’s love of testing, there’s no mention of how states that do well under her criteria do on standardized tests compared to those that score poorly. That’s no surprise, really, since states that get high grades from StudentsFirst do worse on tests than those that score poorly.
Rhee’s group gave letter grades to each state, along with a GPA that allowed them to be ranked from 1 to 51. (DC counts as a state here.) No state got a grade higher than a B-, and only two states made that grade. Eleven states got an F. Tough! But do these grades mean anything?
To evaluate the StudentsFirst grades, I got 8th grade reading and math scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, aka NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card. Testing can be a debased pursuit when it’s used to measure individual schools and teachers (sample sizes are just too small, and there’s too much statistical noise from year to year to base anything on), but the NAEP is as good as they come for measuring broad trends.
Here are the results. StudentsFirst has Louisiana at #1 in its rankings—but the state ranks 49th in reading and 47th in math. North Dakota, which StudentsFirst ranks 51st, comes in at #14 in reading scores and #7 in math. Massachusetts, which ranks #1 in both reading and math scores (and which is also the most unionized state for teachers in the country), comes in at #14 on the Rhee scale.
Looking more rigorously at the results, the correlation coefficient on the rankings in the StudentsFirst report card with state rankings on reading scores is -0.20. (The correlation coefficient is a measure of the similarity of two sets of numbers, ranging from -1.0, completely dissimilar, to +1.0, perfect similarity.) That’s not a large number, but the negative sign means that the correlation is in the wrong direction: the higher the StudentsFirst score, the lower the NAEP reading score. The correlation on math is even worse, -0.25.
If you group the states by their StudentsFirst grades and look at the average test scores and rankings, you can understand why Rhee & Co. didn’t bother to get into outcomes. The two states that got B-’s did almost 8 points worse on math than those that got F’s, and over 9 points worse on reading. The B- states were toward the bottom of the rankings, and the F were above the middle. (And yes, 22-45 is -23, not -22, as the table suggests; the difference is a result of rounding.)
StudentsFirst grades and NAEP 2011 test results, 8th grade
Rhee NAEP scores NAEP ranks grades reading math reading math B- 258.4 275.3 42 45 C+ 257.3 276.1 37 34 C- 263.8 282.0 29 31 D+ 268.3 286.8 18 21 D 263.5 283.3 30 26 D- 266.2 285.0 23 24 F 266.2 284.8 22 22 F less B- 7.8 9.5 -20 -22
(For the full data, see this Excel spreadsheet.)
The results aren’t perfectly negative, and there’s not a perfect downward stairstep pattern in the NAEP columns on this table. But the evidence is nonetheless against Rhee. Alas, that’s the typical story of school reformers’ efforts. For a bunch of business-supported technocrats supposedly in love with metrics, there’s absolutely no empirical support for their ambitions. You might suspect that their real aim is to bust teachers unions and save money educating a population that elites have lost interest in.
Rhee herself has a rather checkered history. When she was being vetted to run the DC public schools, she claimed miraculous results in her previous work in Baltimore—but, as the Washington Post put it, “she could not produce data to support [her] statement.” That didn’t stop her from getting the job. And when she left the Washington post, an investigation by USA Today found strong evidence of cheating behind her claims of vastly improved test scores. And now she has a foundation, promoting the same agenda using data that can’t survive fact-checking. But the corporate and financial elite loves her education agenda, and when the elite loves you, there’s no blemish that can’t be overlooked.
Kudos to Doug Henwood for covering this. For others interested in the school reform movement, I would recommend Bob Somerby’s blog, the Daily Howler.
http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com
By: hardindr on January 7, 2013
at 3:25 pm
Damn, this is good. Thanks, Doug!
By: Doug Tarnopol on January 7, 2013
at 3:40 pm
intristing ..so from education is good to start reforme ..
thank you
By: princess1960 on January 7, 2013
at 4:08 pm
The grades are for “state policy” (what states are doing to improve education). No one is going to argue that Louisiana students are outperforming Massachusetts students. However, according to StudentsFirst, Louisiana is doing a better job of ensuring that its education system is improving.
By: Matt Ryan on January 7, 2013
at 7:42 pm
‘…when the elite loves you, there’s no blemish that can’t be overlooked.’
That’s a great summary of the last two presidential elections.
As for your evaluation of StudentsFirst, you conveniently left out that the StudentsFirst rankings looked at educational POLICIES, not school performance. Also, if you actually read the StudentsFirst report you would have seen that they included the NAEP data you cited and they said the policies they graded need to be effectively implemented in order to achieve better school performance.
Aside from completely letting your bias get in the way of any sort of effective analysis, nice job.
By: Freedom Has Value (@FreedomHasValue) on January 8, 2013
at 1:48 am
Thanks for this, Henwood. We desperately need more writing from you in the new year.
By: G.G. Allin on January 8, 2013
at 9:41 am
Oh, I’m so glad that someone did this. One note: Rhee’s report card is funding by the American Enterprise Institute and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Fordham’s research on the evils of unionized teachers has been described as “silly” and “laughable.”
By: PeonInChief on January 8, 2013
at 11:45 am
Oops. I meant “funded”, not “funding”.
By: PeonInChief on January 8, 2013
at 12:07 pm
Reblogged this on Southern Perlo and commented:
Look beyond the numbers and see education in a different light. Read a thoughtful review of the latest reform effort.
By: southernperlo on January 8, 2013
at 10:50 pm
[…] on how thoroughly they were enacting the group's prescribed corporate reforms. Under its strange assessment method, 11 states received failing grades and nearly 90 percent were graded at less than a […]
By: Ed 'Reformers' Fumble Logic With Foolish Football Analogy on January 9, 2013
at 12:13 pm
[…] on how thoroughly they were enacting the group’s prescribed corporate reforms. Under its strange assessment method, 11 states received failing grades and nearly 90 percent were graded at less than a […]
By: Ed ‘Reformers’ Fumble Logic With Foolish Football Analogy | Elm River Free Press on January 9, 2013
at 3:09 pm
A+ for Rhee’s effort to spread commodification throughout the education industry. As we all know, the cheaper the commodity, the greater the market share. It’s quantity that counts. Quality slows down the production of edumacation ™, sucking up unnecessary amounts of monetised wealth i.e. taxes which should stay in the control of our friends, the job providers of the capitalist class. Rhee is right. In a cost-efficiency democracy, the Nation needs more bang for the buck, not quality teachers or lower student/teacher ratios. What’s the purpose of edumacation anyway? To turn out masses of individuals who freely compete with each other in the marketplace for labour for positions at say, a Wall Mart or a bunch of disgruntled, pointy headed intellectuals full of resentment at the positions which say, Harvard Law grads snag at the “New York Times”?
By: Mike B) on January 9, 2013
at 5:09 pm
The charter school movement is about siphoning off the ‘talented 10th’ and making everyone else contented Walmart greeters or thugish security guards.
Countries with such a narrow talent pool are not world powers.
Once the much maligned boomers retire, the U.S. is going to disintegrate rapidly. The educational disparities that existed versus the world 30 years ago are closing rapidly by the year. For instance, compare the upbringing of a South Korean 30 years ago with the present.
Our elites don’t know what they are doing even on their own terms. And nothing about the U.S. political culture suggests the decline will be pleasant.
By: purple on January 9, 2013
at 11:00 pm
[…] Doug Henwood took a close look at Rhee’s rankings and found they have a negative correlation with success on the NAEP: “[T]he higher the StudentsFirst score, the lower the NAEP reading score. The correlation on math is even worse, -0.25.” […]
By: Michelle Rhee’s report card: Is the issue more choices or better choices? | Get Schooled on January 10, 2013
at 2:28 am
Lamentably, someone has made a mockery of Rhee’s wonderful brand:
http://markmaynard.com/2013/01/exploring-michelle-rhees-influence-over-michigan-education-reform/
By: Arne Duncan on January 11, 2013
at 3:45 pm
[…] Bloggers Rape Prevention Aimed At Rapists Does Work: The “Don’t Be That Guy” Campaign More bogosity from Michelle Rhee Rhee Versus Reality: How Not to Grade Restaurants and Schools Did education reform cause France to […]
By: Links 1/11/13 | Mike the Mad Biologist on January 11, 2013
at 4:34 pm
[…] the latest publicity stunt is the state “Report Card” released this week. Doug Henwood calls the Report Card for what it is- self-promoting […]
By: Rheeform Fail Part II « Royal Northwest Mounted Valise on January 12, 2013
at 9:35 pm
[…] Michelle Rhee’s Plan Continues to Fail. […]
By: Weekend Reading « Backslash Scott Thoughts on January 20, 2013
at 10:14 am
Fix your podcast feed. I understand you are old, and probably poor, but come on, man.
By: John Cocktosen on January 22, 2013
at 8:22 pm
[…] that I started following when I enrolled in a MOOC, Computing for Data Analysis. A commenter linked to another blog that showed some back-of-the-envelope calculations that the GPA’s were negatively correlated […]
By: “State Policy Report Card” – Does not reflect student achievement | Tatro Lab Research & Reflections on January 24, 2013
at 4:13 am
[…] that the NAEP scores have been rising nationwide for two decades. As Doug Henwood has pointed out here, “StudentsFirst has Louisiana at #1 in its rankings—but the state ranks 49th in reading and 47th […]
By: CA Editorial on Vouchers Gets Failing Grade « Smart City Memphis on January 24, 2013
at 3:57 pm
Michelle Rhee – The famous former Washington DC School District Chancellor
Michelle Rhee on OPRAH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPsqO17f6Lw
Michelle Rhee on abc’s ThisWeek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nep1mcaFthU
Michelle Rhee on The DailyShow with Jon Stewart
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-4-2013/michelle-rhee
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-4-2013/exclusive—michelle-rhee-extended-interview-pt–2
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-4-2013/exclusive—michelle-rhee-extended-interview-pt–3
pbs.org FRONTLINE: The Education of Michelle Rhee
http://video.pbs.org/video/2323979463/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education-of-michelle-rhee/
Why Teach For America works – Michelle Rhee
A Two-Tier Proposal for Teacher Pay – Michelle Rhee
Time Magazine: Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862444-2,00.html
Michelle Rhee Discusses “Waiting for Superman,” Charter Schools And Sch… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLih24QdwH8
Stanford University: A Conversation on “Waiting for Superman” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzrjo7Fvs1A
“Radical” Fighting to Put Students First should be a must read for all studentsfirst.org members! Michelle Rhee’s new book, “RADICAL: Fighting to Put Students First,” is now in stores! For more information about where you can find it, to read an excerpt from the book, and to share your story about education in America visit the official site at http://www.edradical.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/edradical.
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/michelle-rhee/510ff3b02b8c2a138f000747
Michelle Rhee at the ACE 2011 Spring Luncheon https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=mO9F-amHDuw
Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson (4/20/11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=OCcNzh7C_Tk&feature=endscreen
Michelle A. Rhee 03.17.11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD0g8Jb9l78
Cornell Alumni: Olin Lecture 2012: Michelle Rhee ’92https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwFD-wkAEi8
Harvard Public Health: Michelle Rhee, Former Chancellor of Washington D.C. Public Schoolshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH0twXcxNUY
http://fora.tv/2013/02/07/Michelle_Rhee_Fighting_to_Put_Students_First
Geoffrey Canada – Conversations at KCTS 9
Geoffrey Canada interviewed by Julian Bond: Explorations in Black Leadership …
“Waiting for Superman” the documentary and Bloomberg documentary “Risk Takers” Michelle Rhee should a required screening for all studentsfirst.org members. I saw them on Netflix and became an instant member of studentsfirst.org and Michelle Rhee follower.
“Won’t Back down” the movie is another example to screen to all studentsfirst.org members.
Share the reasons you fight for education reform. Your story will inspire others to get involved. So tell us: Why are you working to put students first? http://www.studentsfirst.org/facebook-story
Check out today’s blog by StudentsFirst staffer Charity Hallman, “One size fits all, or so they said,” on The Fordham Institute’s “Education Gadfly Daily: FLYPAPER” blog.
To view the Fordham study, “When Teachers Choose Pension Plans: The Florida Story,” visit http://www.studentsfirst.org/fordham-study-on-fl-teacher-pension-reform
Watch MAKER videos on StudentFirst Founder Michelle Rhee visit http://www.makers.com/michelle-rhee
By: AJAY JAIN on March 14, 2013
at 1:59 pm
Michelle Rhee will outlive all the nay sayers through her tenacity and determination to fight TENURE in schools!
By: AJAY JAIN on March 17, 2013
at 10:08 pm
Michelle Rhee’s only talent is for self-promotion; her major goal while at DC Public Schools was to place cronies in the schools that worked in the District — often leading to those schools declining — and shutting down other schools, all the time focusing on breaking the union rather than improving educational outcomes.
By: RH on April 24, 2013
at 10:34 pm