Re: Fw: crap

[aburke5054@aol.com]

Even without the scatology, it's going to be a hard sell that the 
straightforward reporting of tactics by an advocacy group aiming to 
influence education politics is a dereliction of the Post's 
journalistic responsibilities.  There's no way a reasonable reader 
could believe that the Post uncritically accepts the conclusions of 
Strong American Schools, and if anything I think Chandler takes a 
mildly skeptical tone in focusing on SAS advertising tactics.  Note too 
that
Chandler states that the interpretation of the results of international 
tests is controversial and he gives the last word to a teacher in the 
Washington area whose point of view counters somewhat that of the 
advocacy group.  What more do you want out of a news story?  Simply 
because a reporter did not write a story the way you think it should 
have been written is not going to convince an editor or ombudsman that 
a journalistic lapse occurred.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: GERALD BRACEY <gbracey1@verizon.net>
To: eddra@yahoogroups.com; LiteracyForAll@yahoogroups.com; 
arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 8:20 am
Subject: [arn-l] Fw: crap

Here we go again.

I suggest that people on these various lists write both Fred Hiatt, 
editor of
the editorial page, and deborah howell, the Post Ombudsman, to complain 
about
the Post's coverage of this garbage.  They should be deluged with 
complaints.

The article is at 
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/12/AR2008071201761.
html.

Or, in case I mis-typed, www.washingtonpost.com and search on 
"Chandler."


www.hiattf@washpost.com, ombudsman@washpost.com.

----- Original Message -----
From: GERALD BRACEY
To: chandlerm@washpost.com ; mathewsj@washpost.com ; valerie strauss ;
haynesv@washpost.com ; Fred Hiatt
Cc: ombudsman@washpost.com
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 11:09 AM
Subject: crap


It's bad enough that Roy Romer, who used to be pretty smart when I knew 
him in
CO, has become the most irrational of school critics, but it's worse 
that page
C7 of today's Post gives his his latest fear mongering crap--let's call 
it what
it is, shit, and see if that gets through the filters--free publicity.  
In God's
name, WHY?  Who put the Post up to this story?

I think the Post owes it to schools to base a piece at least as long on 
U. S.
Competitiveness in Science and Technology which was just issued by the 
RAND
corporation.  We're #1, says RAND.  It's a much more reasoned document 
though
it, too, makes some errors when talking about school performance.  It 
at least
credits U. S. kids on international tests where they do well.  If you 
look
around at the fear mongers, you'll notice they mention PISA ranks and 
nothing
else.  That's because, as RAND observes, on TIMSS and PIRLS we look 
good.  Of
course, even RAND's study considers that there might be a link between 
test
scores and competitiveness, which no one has ever demonstrated.  In 
fact, in his
epilogue to a recent book about PISA (see below), U of Vienna professor 
Stefan
Hopmann notes that PISA rests on two assumptions: that it assesses 
important
knowledge, and that it assesses knowledge important to the economic 
future of a
nation.  There is no research, says Hopmann, to support either 
assumption.  So
why does the Post accept PISA at face value?

Last week, I sent in an oped, Getting It Backwards, that begins with a 
quote
from an English economist.  He takes the proper perspective.  Critics 
in this
country look at test scores and worry about competitiveness.  He looks 
at
America's #1 economy and impugns the validity of the test comparisons.  
Prais'
argument appears in a book I recently received edited by three profs at 
the U of
Vienna but with chapters from researchers all over Europe that 
virtually
demolishes PISA, the international study that is used in Romer's ads (I 
know,
the article mentions Marc Lampkin as CEO, but if you go to their site 
you
immediately see that Roy is the driving force).  Why do American media 
accept
these studies so uncritically?

Gerald W. Bracey
Alexandria-------------------------------------------------------
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