Letter To Fordham Snake Oil Salesmen Part 2

Tags

Common Core Standards Initiative, Missouri, No Child Left Behind Act, Smarter Balanced Practice and Training Tests (SBAC), Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Missouri Education Watchdog by Anne Gassel

Yesterday we published Part 1 of Dr. Bryne’s response to the op ed by Mike Petrilli and Robert Pondiscio about the poor performance of our students on the SBAC test given this past spring. We were suspicious about this having been written for Missouri since it gave inaccurate figures about Missouri such as a gross overstatement of our state remediation rates. Just a little searching turned up the same piece in Connecticut and West Virginia. Today Dr. Byrne provides a side by side comparison of the various pieces and provides Missouri’s present day response.

 

See Part 1 here.

Part 2

 

In the table below are the virtually identical articles Petrilli and Pondiscio placed in various news publications in Connecticut, West Virginia, and Missouri. The text that is common to all of the ads appears in red font; text that intersects between two of the three ads appears in green (Missouri and Connecticut), pink (Connecticut and West Virginia), or blue (Missouri and West Virginia). Words unique to each article is identified in black font. Do you see all the red? Petrilli and Pondiscio use a “cookie cutter/one-size-fits all” approach to standardize their articles about standardizing student performance on common core aligned tests. Why am I not surprised? Below are some points of interest as you contrast the content of the articles in the table:

• Note the inconsistency in the language referring to state performance standards. Petrilli and Pondicio describe CT and WV as having set a low bar, but, not MO. That’s because Missouri had the 2^nd highest performance standards in the country.http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2011458.pdf ). In fact, Missouri’s original ESEA Flexibility Waiver application stated that MO was adopting the CC standards because our standards were the top three in the country…

Read full article

 

LINK:
http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/letter-to-fordham-snake-oil-salesmen-part-2/

Letter to Fordham Snake Oil Peddlers Part 1

Tags

Common Core Initiative Standards, Education, Smarter Balanced Practice and Training Tests (SBAC), Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Grumpy Opinions by Grumpy

Gretchen Logue wrote about the Recent op ed piece by Mike Petrilli and Robert Pondiscio, president and vice president for external affairs respectively of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which appeared in the Post Dispatch about the poor performance of our students on the SBAC test given this past spring. The same piece, with minor changes, appeared simultaneously in Connecticut and West Virginia. Not only did the op ed in Missouri contain easily verified factual errors, it continued to spout the unproven promises of Common Core and the associated standardized test. It sounded very much like the pamphlet sent by snake oil salesmen at the turn of the last century to Missouri’s own Mark Twain who railed against their false promises. Today’s guest post is by Dr. Mary Byrne Ed.D. who compares the work of Petrilli and Pondiscio to the snake oil promises and provides Missouri’s present day response.

Part 1 of 2

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/01/youre-idiot-of-33rd-degree.html

“Snake Oil Salesman.” The phrase conjures up images of seedy profiteers trying to exploit an unsuspecting public by selling it fake cures. Mark Twain had harsh words for a snake oil peddler when enraged by the peddler’s attempt to sell bogus medicine to Twain by way of a letter and leaflet delivered to his home. According to the literature, the peddler’s “Elixir of Life” could cure such ailments as meningitis (which had killed Twain’s daughter in 1896) and diphtheria (which killed his 19-month-old son). A furious Twain dictated a letter of response to his secretary, which he then signed. What is a “snake oil salesman”? Why is peddling snake oil such a terrible thing?

A “snake oil salesman” is somebody that sells an item that claims to have some miraculous powers. This product is usually accompanied by a tremendous amount of hype. In an attempt to help push their products, the “snake oil salesman” will usually utilize planted accomplices who will claim that the product actually works. Snake oil salesmen take advantage of struggling people willing to pay whatever they have to find a cure for their chronic problems. The snake oil peddlers know their promises of relief aren’t supported with well-designed research, but, pilot studies and longitudinal research will interfere with the agenda of salesman’s corporate and foundation sponsors. The “suckers” are not only cheated out of their money, but they forgo opportunities for authentic, locally developed solutions to their schools’ specific ailments. In other words, parents and taxpayers pay “opportunity cost” as well as financial costs. Hucksters hock hope. Twain lashed out at the peddler because he was grieved by genuine pain that the snake oil salesman disingenuously promised to relieve.

Mark Twain’s letter of fury unleashed on a snake oil salesman for fraudulent advertising conjures up similar images when thinking about Mike Petrilli and Robert Pondiscio’s “Missouri: Don’t shoot the messenger.” Petrilli and Pondiscio are the president and vice president for external affairs respectively of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a non-governmental organization frequently referred to as a conservative think tank…..

Continue…..

Part 2 to follow.

Image : Samuel Clemens and John T. Lewis (an elderly African American man), both full length, seated on steps of porch. Source, Library of Congress.

LINKS:
http://grumpyelder.com/2015/09/letter-to-fordham-snake-oil-peddlers-part-1/
http://www.loc.gov/item/2005680948/