(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
Fordham strikes again, following up their great Proficiency Illusion study with the Accountability Illusion. This time, they took 18 elementary and 18 middle schools, and applied the varying accountability rules of 28 different states under NCLB to see which of them would make AYP under which set of rules.
In other words, which states have jimmied the gory details to make it really easy to make AYP? Things like how many students you require to make a subgroup and adopted error margins make a big, big difference.
I can’t tell you how shocking it was to see Arizona as the second easiest state studied in which to make AYP.
That is to say, I was shocked that someone had actually made it easier to do than Arizona. This should be a statewide scandal in Wisconsin.
<Cue cheesy singer and Charleton Heston-like voice about here>
Real men of GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here’s to you, Mr. Wisconsin No Child Left Behind compliance guy.
Mr. Wisconsin No Child Left Behind compliance guy!
When those federal bureaucrats required us to test students in return for federal dollars, you figured out how to how to drop your academic standards lower than anyone. Beating out Arizona…that’s really impressive. They said it couldn’t be done, but you did it!
Watch out! Falling cut scores!
When you’ve got schools making AYP in Wisconsin that don’t make it anywhere else, you deserve the satisfaction of a hard day’s work! We want everyone to feel good about their schools after all, whether the students learn anything or not.
Don’t feel bad-trophies for everyone!!
That partial credit scheme for kids that fail was inspired! Why let the sunbelt states have all the fun with low academic standards? Don’t worry about those darned meddling Fordham kids and their fancy study! You can still get away with it!
Oh YEAH! Where’s my Scooby snack?!?
So here’s to you Mr. Wisconsin NCLB compliance guy! When it comes to creative insubordination, no one can match your GUSTO! Keep taking those federal dollars and giving them hell!
Mr. Wisconsin I’m Too Scared of Adults to Care About Kids NCLB Compliance guuuuuuy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
[…] it. And if you are one of those who prefers to laugh rather than weep in the face of outrage, Mathew Ladner of Jay Greene’s blog turns this whole miasma into a parody of the Budweiser “Real Men […]
I can actually hear the music in my head…
You can? Report to the rubber room immediately.
Real funny, Matt. You must watch the one someone made of our ex-football coach here at Arkansas:
Brian-
Good video. Both my parents and my sisters however attended Ole Miss. It is therefore necessary for me to ask, although with reluctance and regret, just how did the Razorbacks do in their bowl game this year?
Cry havoc and let the SEC smack wars begin…
Just like Ole Miss, we too were not outscored in a bowl game this year.
C’mon, you know that switching often has a negative effect on achievement. Just wait for that three-year lag, and then we’ll see who’s where…
True enough Jeff. If living well is the best revenge, however, then you’d have to say that Nutt served his revenge up ice cold last year.