Liberal Bias In EdWeek's Quality Counts?

Every year, it seems, EdWeek's Quality Counts report has more bells and whistles -- which is great, except it gives folks like the Fordham Foundation more to wonder about.  [BTW -- I didn't know that 12 states have already tied teacher evaluation to student achievement. I thought the number was still much smaller.] Last year, you may recall, they lambasted QC's effort to determine "Chance-for-Success" for every state.  This year, they've got big problems with QC's research on teacher salary and wage progression (The Gadfly).  In simple terms, it's the old 9 months vs. 12 months issue.  Along with ideological arguments, there are some substantive concerns here, too, it seems.  But as with many things Fordham, it's hard to tell which is which. 

 

Comments

[research rules]

Isnt this the epitome of the problems bestting educational research? No matter what a report says people will find ways to pick it apart (rightly or wrongly). I'm not saying QC or Fordham is right, but what is even the point of putting out reseach anymore when everyone knows it will elicit the typical response that in fact their conclusions are wrong and should be the opposite

Are there any reports that come out that arent questioned? Further, adversaries of reports typically use the very same data to prove a vastly different theory. Even people disagree about NAEP data, that in one instance it shows improvement or in another that it doesnt.

I guess i dont understand what is helping schools or education in either of these instances. What does Fordham gain by trapping Swanson at a press conference with 2 minutes to respond to a detailed question and then blogging about it.

The ed community bitches and moans about politicians ignoring ed policy, but what policies can they grasp? If for every theory there are different researchers saying different things. it makes it difficult to allign yourself politically with an issue that you know will have clear dissenters.

and for no reason: viva wonkette, boo eduwonk