The Test Evidence Keeps Piling Up

According to City Room, the Bloomberg educational miracle is fast becoming a big joke-and his $109 million ad campaign is as close to outright fraud as anything we have ever seen in NYC: "New York City’s white and Asian students are scoring better on the SATs than at any time since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of the city schools, according to 2010 SAT scores released by the city Tuesday. But Hispanic and black students as a whole are still scoring lower than they did in 2002, despite gains on some sections since last year. The city says the lower scores are a result of significantly increased participation from black and Hispanic students, which tends to depress scores by broadening the pool of test takers."

Should have just kept them out perhaps; but seriously, the evidence is as damning as it is considerable that the Great Leap Forward is reminiscent of all those great socialist public relations fiascos of the past: "But the overall trend since 2002 remained negative. Compared to 2002 scores, city students scored eight points lower in math and three points lower in reading in 2010. In writing, students scored four points lower than they did when the section was introduced in 2006."

Does the mayor perchance have a home schooling initiative? Anything beats the current record levels of failure-and, as we have said before, the euphoric promotion of charters by the mayor is an example of self abuse. But the racial gap can't be ignored: "But black students had more mixed performance. While their average score on the reading test, 412, was the same as in 2009, and scores went up by one point to 411 on the math section, writing scores dropped by three points to 404. In 2002, black students had average scores of 428 in math and 427 in reading."

Woof, woof-calling Al Sharpton; but that barkless dog is nowhere to be found, busy cashing the Bloomberg hush money checks. Chancellor Klein, alive and well in a sealed hyperbaric chamber, tries his hand at playing Dr. Pangloss: "This year’s results suggest that more students have college on their minds,” said Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor, in a press release. “With a shift toward higher standards and the increasing demands of a global economy, progress on the SATs and in AP courses could not come at a better time.”

Or, as General Pyhrus might say, "One more such victory will undo me!"