10 Responses to “Tastes Great But Is It Less Filling?”

1. Chris Smyr Says:
   January 22nd, 2011 at 2:40 pm

   The reasoning that Michelle Lite is approved over its alternative by some is mostly political, not primarily because it would have been more effective. There’s little appealing about extended collaboration and improvement by inches when you’re staring down mediocrity and failure at every turn, yet that’s what needed to happen to avoid her own turnover.

   Whitmire mentions that high-performing school districts have a different emphasis of reform, and initially wonders why Rhee couldn’t just do the same, but good on him to answer his own questions by saying that different districts require different approaches. There are likely aspects of both reforms that ought to be brought to DC, but the urgency with which it’s implemented should not be lost.

2. Phiilipmarlowe Says:
   January 22nd, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   Whitmere leaves out that the 2009 NAEP (Nation’s report card) tests were taken in the winter and early Spring of 2009, before Rhee first fired teachers based on her new teacher evaluation tool, instituted in the fall of 2010, that supposedly identified ineffective teachers.

   He leaves out something he must know – that DC NAEP scores had been rising slowly and steadily for a decade,* [see comments] under six different superintendents, so they can hardly be called “Rhee-style gains. Also, in the metropolitan area (TUDA) NAEP scores, DC came “out of the cellar” because Detroit was added to the mix. Detroit’s now at the bottom, with DC in the #2 spot.*

   Whitmere leaves out that DCPS Elementary DC-CAS scores declined by 10% in the 09-10 school year.* I suppose this doesn’t fit with the heroine myth any more than the fact that the achievement gap has increased* on Rhee’s watch.

   I don’t see why anyone would trust a writer who leaves out such pertinent information.

   * references in the order mentioned above
   http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/ (then click on “District of Columbia”)
   http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2009/12/were_tied_for_no_14_were_tied.html
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071306622.html
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/12/AR2009121201276.html
   1/22/2011 11:01:48 AM

3. Phiilipmarlowe Says:
   January 22nd, 2011 at 9:13 pm

   This is being posted again, as the web links start with h t t p:

   Whitmere leaves out that the 2009 NAEP (Nation’s report card) tests were taken in the winter and early Spring of 2009, before Rhee first fired teachers based on her new teacher evaluation tool, instituted in the fall of 2010, that supposedly identified ineffective teachers.

   He leaves out something he must know – that DC NAEP scores had been rising slowly and steadily for a decade,* [see comments] under six different superintendents, so they can hardly be called “Rhee-style gains. Also, in the metropolitan area (TUDA) NAEP scores, DC came “out of the cellar” because Detroit was added to the mix. Detroit’s now at the bottom, with DC in the #2 spot.*

   Whitmere leaves out that DCPS Elementary DC-CAS scores declined by 10% in the 09-10 school year.* I suppose this doesn’t fit with the heroine myth any more than the fact that the achievement gap has increased* on Rhee’s watch.

   I don’t see why anyone would trust a writer who leaves out such pertinent information.

   * references in the order mentioned above
   NAEP (then click on “District of Columbia”)
   We’re #14
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071306622.html
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/12/AR2009121201276.html
   1/22/2011 11:01:48 AM

4. Phiilipmarlowe Says:
   January 22nd, 2011 at 9:17 pm

   One more time without weblink references:

   Whitmere leaves out that the 2009 NAEP (Nation’s report card) tests were taken in the winter and early Spring of 2009, before Rhee first fired teachers based on her new teacher evaluation tool, instituted in the fall of 2010, that supposedly identified ineffective teachers.

   He leaves out something he must know – that DC NAEP scores had been rising slowly and steadily for a decade,* [see comments] under six different superintendents, so they can hardly be called “Rhee-style gains. Also, in the metropolitan area (TUDA) NAEP scores, DC came “out of the cellar” because Detroit was added to the mix. Detroit’s now at the bottom, with DC in the #2 spot.*

   Whitmere leaves out that DCPS Elementary DC-CAS scores declined by 10% in the 09-10 school year.* I suppose this doesn’t fit with the heroine myth any more than the fact that the achievement gap has increased* on Rhee’s watch.

   I don’t see why anyone would trust a writer who leaves out such pertinent information.

5. Chris Smyr Says:
   January 22nd, 2011 at 10:12 pm

   FFS Phil, again with the lies?

   * DCPS data: http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/09/rhee-assessing-2.html#comment-210276

   * DCPS data: http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/08/whole-lotta-news.html/comment-page-1#comment-209617

   * NAEP data: http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/08/whole-lotta-news.html#comment-209153

   * NAEP data: http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/09/rhee-assessing-2.html#comment-210556

6. Phiilipmarlowe Says:
   January 23rd, 2011 at 3:15 pm

   @FFS Phil, again with the lies?

   I’m only taking after the love of my live, Michelle, my belle.
   Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble,
   Très bien ensemble.

   She has shown you can lie and get away with it.
   Lied about the Baltimore Miracle.
   Lied about test scores at Shaw Middle.
   Lied about the Wall Street Journal praise.
   Lied about the Hartford Courant praise.
   Lied about the Home Show.
   Lied about Good Morning America.
   Lied about teacherS having sex with students.

   And getting the Uriah Heep TFA drop-out to cover my back.

   See Chris in action here:
   Dickless

7. Chris Smyr Says:
   January 24th, 2011 at 12:16 am

   Phil:

   Ignoring the lacking veracity of your initial claims, you propose additional ideas that perhaps make sense in the whimsical world you live in, but not here in reality. This should be expected from someone who reminds us that he’d rather be a loony.

   (http://www.eduwonk.com/2011/01/11-for-2011.html#comment-215495 )

   Not you nor anyone else has ever shown that Rhee lied about her students’ scores. Instead, you link to an unrelated study about the broader score trends in Baltimore at the time, which ironically shows large improvements at Rhee’s old school, and from it you want sane folks to draw the same dumbass conclusions you did.

   (http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/12/rhee-invented.html#comment-214404 )

   This is all notwithstanding the fact that her students’ scores nearly 20 years ago exerted the same amount of influence on her ability to enable reform in DCPS as your opinion of reform does on my ability to refute the lies you peddle here– and that is none at all.

   Throw out the accusations regarding bad data — as we should considering they generally require such a thing as supporting evidence that you can’t/won’t provide– and you’re left with really damning material, such as how Rhee publicly phrased the reasons behind getting rid of underperforming teachers. Of course, her highest priority from the start ought to have been making sure that discharged teachers felt alright about themselves, as this was a failure that impacted students and hard-working teachers tremendously.

   Check and mate, fellow reformers. Phillip has the lot of you figured out.

8. Phiilipmarlowe Says:
   January 24th, 2011 at 11:36 pm

   Just in December, in the Washingtonian magazine, Miss Rhee said this:

   “People tried to paint Hardy as if it were a great school. Only 50 percent of the African-Americans at that school were testing proficient—which is better than a lot of other schools, so I’m not saying it’s terrible, but it’s certainly not what we should aspire to.”
   http://www.washingtonian.com/print/articles/6/174/17501.html

   Of course she’s incorrect about Hardy proficiency. It’s actually at around 70% for African- Americans in reading and 60% in math. Hardy hasn’t seen proficiency as low as 50% (math only) since 2007.
   http://www.nclb.osse.dc.gov/aypreports.asp

   You wonder why Rhee would lie about a proficiency increase that took place on her watch.

9. Phiilipmarlowe Says:
   January 24th, 2011 at 11:40 pm

   Throw out the accusations regarding bad data —
   See her lies about Shaw on PBS and to Jay Mathews.

   Just in December, in the Washingtonian magazine, Miss Rhee said this:

   “People tried to paint Hardy as if it were a great school. Only 50 percent of the African-Americans at that school were testing proficient—which is better than a lot of other schools, so I’m not saying it’s terrible, but it’s certainly not what we should aspire to.”
   ww w.washingtonian.com/print/articles/6/174/17501.html

   Of course she’s incorrect about Hardy proficiency. It’s actually at around 70% for African- Americans in reading and 60% in math. Hardy hasn’t seen proficiency as low as 50% (math only) since 2007.
   ww w.nclb.osse.dc.gov/aypreports.asp

   You wonder why Rhee would lie about a proficiency increase that took place on her watch.

10. Chris Smyr Says:
    January 25th, 2011 at 1:20 am

    Phil:

    Yes, ignore the fact that your claims regarding the DCPS, NAEP, and Harlem Park data are all easily falsified bullshit. That is the definitely a solid debate tactic.

    And then cry foul when Rhee claimed that Hardy MS only had 50% proficiency when it *really* had 60%. It’s not like she still had a point or anything when she said immediately afterward,

    “—which is better than a lot of other schools, so I’m not saying it’s terrible, but it’s certainly not what we should aspire to.”

    Add to that her terribly rude nature to teachers who were fired for poor performance, and you’ve got some really convincing stuff, Marlowe. You should go start a blog or something.

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