Thursday, May 16, 2013

CL covers MDE accountability inflation

The Clarion-Ledger picked up the Bigger Pie Forum story on the Mississippi Department of Education first posted on this website. BPF reported last week MDE inflated school ratings. The Clarion-Ledger stated yesterday:

"A former Mississippi Department of Education employee who admits to changing data affecting accountability ratings is now working as a consultant with various districts and stands by the decisions he made while working for the state department.

Some Mississippi schools got a welcomed bump to their accountability rating in 2011 when Ken Thompson granted appeals in a somewhat haphazard manner to some schools.

The former director of the office of research and statistics for the Mississippi Department of Education, Thompson granted appeals to some schools because, as he said in a 2011 email from his MDE account, he was “too tired to fight.”

Other reasons Thompson provided in 2011 emails — and confirmed during a recent telephone interview — for granting the appeals included errors made by his own office and a slight difference in what schools were asking for and what the data showed.

The emails were first obtained by Bigger Pie Forum, a nonprofit educational organization based in Mississippi.

Thompson, who resigned from MDE in December 2011 and now works as a private educational consultant, recently said he would not change his decisions — decisions that were, by nature, subjective. He also said his department was understaffed and had too narrow a time frame to complete a review of the appeals
..." Rest of article

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way to jump on a story from JJ a WEEK ago, and BFP two weeks ago. CL, go back to sleep.

Anonymous said...

Understand your point 4:15 PM but those kind of collective legs is what it is going to take to root the corruption out of the MDE. The MDE has been protected for far too long by the likes of Cecil Brown, Bobby Moak (D-Annandale), David Blount, McCoy's waterboy Brandon Jones and their yap-dog Nancy Loome. These edu-ripoff artists need to be shutdown and exposure it what it will take. The CL is way late but in this case late is preferable to never.

Anonymous said...

African American school districts should educate pupils in their particular history. Afro-centric secondary education has never been attempted in Mississippi. The Deep South needs more trade and cultural exchange with Africa especially with our historically black colleges.

Instead of allowing the Chinese, Indians, & others to manage the continent we should engage African republics with the educated diaspora here in this hemisphere.

Anonymous said...

You can't quantify everything.

There is a basic flaw involved in that student performance is not just a matter of how well the teacher teaches a subject matter.

Some students, despite a poor teacher , can grasp the subject matter on their own. Making good grades is effortless for some students and they are not being challenged to reach their potential.

For other students,getting them to master one small task is a great achievement.

I'm fine with testing teachers in their knowledge of their subjects and in their knowledge of educational tools.

But, to tie a teachers success to student grades without accessing the abilities of the students they teach,without evaluating the conditions in which they teach, without evaluating the materials available to them to use, is absurd.

Where did we get the silly notion that EVERY student is capable of meeting the requirements of graduation?

Where did we get the silly notion that every child can be taught the same body of subject matter? Or that if little Johnny fails, it's the teacher's and administration's fault and not that little Johnny either didn't try, or his parents didn't respect education or educators or that little Johnny was not a bright bulb?

We use to understand, when education was left to educators and politicians and parents didn't run the schools, that you teach a child according to their abilities to learn. Some students who could never memorize multiplication tables could learn to miter a board or could sing like an angel or throw a ball.

Education is about finding a child's abilities and encouraging those abilities. It's NOT about getting them to regurgitate a set of facts society has deemed important.

And, worse, regurgitation rather than comprehension is how we now test.

So we are graduating students who can't think analytically and who can't express themselves in writing and whose reading comprehension is poor . Those skills require term papers and discussion tests where quantification is the subjective evaluation of the teacher.

Some of you don't know or care about education. You only care about the personalities and politics.

If your education was better, you'd know personality and politics is a poor basis upon which to make decisions.





Anonymous said...

May 17, 2013 at 8:15 AM = blah, blah, blah, blah

Double Cookies on Thursday said...

"Education is about finding a child's abilities and encouraging those abilities. It's NOT about getting them to regurgitate a set of facts society has deemed important."

Is this from your "If I'm Elected Class President" speech in the gym?



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Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.

Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.

Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.


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Trollfest '07

Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

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