Puny G.I. response to AEA’s Wright shows G.I. playing defense

by David Safier

AEA's John Wright and G.I.'s Matthew Ladner debated the "Florida Educational Miracle" reforms moving their way through our legislature — piecemeal measures which don't really touch on some substantive reforms Florida made. Wright came armed with facts, and he  punched holes in some of Ladner's major assertions. Ladner isn't used to being challenged with facts beyond those he cherry-picks to reach his ideologically based conclusions. So he decided to hit back in an arena where Wright couldn't respond: G.I.'s Daily Email.

The screaming headline on today's G.I. Daily Email is AEA president has facts wrong about Florida education reforms. Then Ladner goes on to pick around the edges of one statement Wright made. This is a standard conservative tactic: pull out one small portion of a statement by an opponent and use it as a club, ignoring everything else. It's amusing to watch fast-and-loose-with-facts Ladner get all lawyerly about the exact wording of Wright's statement — and still get it wrong.

Here's Wright's statement, quoted by Ladner:

“The steepest increases that Florida saw in both reading and math
scores were between 1994 and 2002–before most of these reforms took
place.”

Ladner replies:

. . . the Florida legislature enacted most of the reforms in 1999, which falls between 1994 and 2002.

Matthew, I shouldn't have to remind you that "enacted" is not the same thing as being put into practice. As you well know, 3rd grade retention, the biggest of the two Florida-related reforms working their way through our legislature, may have been "enacted" in 1999, but it was put into place during the 2002 school year.

Wright is right. Ladner is wrong.

Then Ladner goes on to criticize Wright's statement by playing games with numbers. Ladner appears to have a point — until you look at what he's saying.

Between 1994 and 1998, Florida’s reading scores increased by two
points. After the reforms, Florida’s scores increased by 18 points
between 1998 and 2007.

Ladner compares a 4 year stretch — 1994-1998 — to a 10 year stretch — 1998-2007. That's ridiculous on its face. But even worse, he begins the 10 year stretch in 1998, 4 years before the 3rd grade retention or Florida's reading improvement plans actually began. (So far as I know, the only real change from 1998 to 2002 was grading Florida's schools on an A-through-F system.) Any gain during those 4 years confirm Wright's point.

Once again, Wright is right. Ladner is wrong.

I could go further into Ladner's argument, but I'll stop here — except to say that Ladner pulls out his favorite $9700 per student figure which is only relevant as a piece of propaganda. No matter how many times Ladner says it, it's still the same tired old, meaningless statistic.

To devote an entire email to evidence this thin, Ladner must be worried that his hoped-for monopoly on educational facts and figures is being challenged — and the media is beginning to catch on to what's going on.