This week has been busier than I expected, so I am still working on my merit-pay post. In the meantime, I encourage you to check out this article, written by retired principal Katherine Cox. It tells the tale of “The Texas Miracle”, a well-documented lie that bafflingly continues to influence educational policy today.
Here is an excerpt:
“In the 1990′s, Houston Superintendent of Schools, Rod Paige, made principals and administrators accountable for the drop-out rate and for test scores. When those two criteria did not improve at a particular school, Paige fired the school administrator. Scores suddenly shot up at schools all over the district. Some schools made incredible progress with both the drop-out rate and student achievement scores. When George Bush campaigned for President in 2000, he thought he had found “the magic bullet” to reform America’s public schools and touted “the Texas miracle” during his campaign. But, as we shall see, the improvement turned out to be based on lies and fabrication. Houston had not improved its scores or its drop-out rate.
Even though the sham was known in inner circles by 2000, President Bush, once elected, appointed the very shaman himself, Rod Paige, as U.S. Secretary of Education.”
Unfortunately, this is only where the story begins. Read the rest of the article here.
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