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The answer will be to make the exams easier. No one cares about learning anymore. Statistics are all that matter.

The response from Joel Klein and Mike Bloomberg is completely predictable: they will seek to discredit NAEP, no matter what the experts say about it being the “gold standard” in educational assessment.

Funny thing, of course, is that if NAEP showed improvement, well, the City would be proclaiming it as an example of their preeminence.

Is their another way to go about this? Yes, perhaps the City could simply state that things may not have improved as much as the State tests indicate and that there is more work to be done.

The Nation’s Report Card is the closest thing we have to transparency. It’s the most reliable data we have and the latest results are an embarrassment to Joel Klein and Michael Bloomberg. Klein is very big on data–HIS data. The NAEP results are, in my opinion, more significant than the State or the City’s numbers. The Mayor and Chancellor should stop playing the blame game with teachers and hang their own heads in shame. Their plan has failed.

And Born in Brooklyn, to my knowledge the Mayor and Chancellor have not said anything publicly about the state NAEP results. How completely presumptuous and arrogant of you to assume what they will say. If anything, I think the Mayor has been saying he is not happy with student progress and that it should be better. There’s nothing the Mayor has said that could be construed in any way to mean we should be happy with the state of student performance in NYC. Moreover, these are State NAEP scores. The City results have not been released, and they could be better than NY State’s. Again, this all reminds me of the story of the man who saw Jesus walk on water and in reply said: “well, he can’t swim.” I’m sometimes astonished at the amount of negativity and profound low expectations people have of our public schools. It’s a wonder kids learn anything with these kinds of adults patrolling the halls.

About them there “once in a blue moon tests.”

A “blue moon” (two full moons in a calendar month) occurs roughly once every 2.7 years. NAEP is more frequent.

We could also run the state tests more frequently than annually.

But would that improve the education of our kids any more than taking their temperature hourly helps them get over the flu?

And, per “Spinal Tap,” I want an amp that goes to 11.

You like the state tests better? Fine. One of Kleinberg’s counties is stuck in last place, year after year after blue moon, btw. Please join me in holding them accountable. Captain? Got iceberg?

Previously, Chancellor Klein has said many things to deflect criticism of our poor performance on NAEP – they’re not statistically significant, they don’t measure what we teach, they’re really going up (when they’re not) etc. For all our kids’ sakes, I hope he responds like Commissioner Steiner and acknowledges that we have a big problem. I just can’t see Bloomberg ever coming around to admit that all his “reforms” are not producing the success he claims.

Queens parent- do you also work for the Mayor?

I know a lot of parents and none of them carry water for Mike like you do in your posts.
I also know a lot of BloomKlien Klienberg Klones and they all talk like you blog.

Tell us more about yourself: where did you grow up, what kind of schools did you attend, what kind of school is your child in, ( public, private or charter; demographics; measures of success, etc.).
I honestly would like to know how you came by your lens, outlook, opinions and knowlege.

Queens,
How can you possibly support a mayor who has repeatedly claimed that “scores and graduation rates are up” in his re-election commercials, when unbiased, national data demonstrates that all that has occurred is we have watered down the tests and therefore graduation standards? Bloomberg continues to act as if he has the answer to the school system’s issues, and this just shows that his performance (God knows he claims to love performance-based rewards and punishments) has been sub-par, to put it in a nice way.
This is why they invented term limits. Remember those?
Or, even better, do we get to fire him because he has failed to perform? Can we send him to a mayoral rubber room?