Couldn’t have said it better myself

by David Safier

The National Education Policy Center is onto Matthew Ladner, big time. A month or so back, it tore into his Heritage Foundation report praising the "Florida Education Miracle." If you've been reading BfA for awhile, you know what a load of cherry-picked propagandizing Ladner's "research" on Florida education is.

Now, NEPC says Ladner has repackaged the same data in a new package for Tennessee. Apparently,

Dr. Ladner has also written state-specific versions of this report for Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wisconsin, as well as versions for the Hoover Institution and the Pacific Research Institute.

Ladner is doing a national, dog-and-pony show and snakeoil tour, racking up the bonus airline miles hitting gullible legislatures and audiences in states across the union.

Here is NEPC summing up how Ladner reaches his desired conclusions:

• Cherry-picking achievement results. Dr. Ladner’s analyses all used only fourth grade reading results from NAEP. Fourth grade math and eighth grade reading and math results did not show as favorable results and were omitted from his analyses.
• Failing to account for flunking effects. The report ignores group differences resulting from the state’s mandatory grade retention policy for the weakest readers in grade 3. This policy-driven increase in grade retention rates spuriously inflates the average scores of grade 4 students on state and national assessments, making racial achievement gaps narrower.
• Asserting the results he cites are the result of his favored reform efforts (school choice, performance pay charters, tax credits, mandatory grade retention, virtual schools, alternative certification), even though neither the data nor the analyses used are even close to sufficient to make causal claims. Florida in fact has several additional school-reform initiatives, including summer interventions, an early reading initiative, and class size reduction that are not listed or considered as possible contributors.
• Ignoring important research on these topics. Almost all his references are to publications by advocacy think tanks or media reports.

Right on the money.