During the last debate, Obama declared:
- ”You know, under my leadership, what we’ve done is reformed education, working with governors, 46 states. We’ve seen progress and gains in schools that were having a terrible time. And they’re starting to finally make progress.”
Ezra Klein – overexposed (and over-rated) liberal WashPost writer tried to prove the point for his favorite President … presenting reading and math scores for the past 20 years.
For reading, Klein concludes:
- “For eighth grade reading, students did better on NAEP, the gold standard for the quantitative measurement of student learning, in 2011 than in 2009, but fourth-grade scores were unchanged.”
Ken concludes:
- For 4th graders, reading scores improved by 4% under Bush’s much maligned “No Student Left Behind” program (NSLB) … from 213 to 221 … and haven’t budged under Obama’s “Race to the Top” (RTTT)
- For 8th graders. reading scores have been essentially flat-lined for the past 15 years, with neither NSLB or RTTT having moved the needle.
* * * * * *
For math, Klein concludes:
- “Math scores significantly improved across the board (under Obama).
Ken concludes:
- For 4th graders, math scores improved by 7% under Bush’s much maligned “No Student Left Behind” program (NSLB) … from 226 to 240 … and increased by 1 measly point under Obama’s “Race to the Top” (RTTT)
- For 8th graders. math scores improved by 4% under Bush’s much maligned “No Student Left Behind” program (NSLB) … from 273 to 283 … and increased by 1 measly point under Obama’s “Race to the Top” (RTTT)
* * * * *
Bottom line:
1) Tell me again why No Child Left Behind was so bad?
2) Maybe Klein should take the math test.
The Homa Files 