Huckabee exposed on education

From WPAAG.org (courtesy of Arkansas Watch):

Mike Huckabee has been stating how Arkansas how education improved with a ranking of 8th.   Well it seems that there is some confusion, a riddle you could say considering these facts:

·         The Education Week’s Quality Counts 2008 report itself indicates that Arkansas earned a D in K-12 on student achievement (on their own report where they gave Arkansas an 8th from the top national ranking.)  

·         Only nine states scored lower than Arkansas on the ACT test in 2007.  Arkansas dropped slightly in 2007, but the national average improved. (The ACT test is the culmination of K-12 instruction and is used by colleges all over the nation to award scholarships.)  

·         The graduation rate dropped slightly more than 10% in one year according to the last educational report in Arkansas (2005-2006) the next report won’t be available for a few more months.

·        College Remediation Rate is 51.6% (46.6% in 1995); National Average is 33%  

·         Only Nine States Scored Lower Than Arkansas in 8th Grade Math on NAEP Test; only sixteen states scored lower than Arkansas on the 4^th Grade Reading NAEP Test, etc. in 2005.  In 2007 our scores were even lower.  Arkansas Department of Education Director said , “We have slipped a bit in terms of state rankings in all areas, save mathematics at the fourth grade.”

·         Only 28% of AR students pass test on Advanced Placement (AP) courses, while 59.4% pass nationwide

·         Test Scores on nationally normed tests  are 11 Percentile Points lower in 2006 than in 1990 (a 22% decrease) (Later scores are not available yet) 

·         In its latest State of State Standards in 2006, Fordham Foundation gave Arkansas an F on its Math Standards, F on U S. History Standards, an F on World History Standards, a D in Science and a C in English for an average of F.    

·         The National Report Card on Higher Ed. gave Arkansas a  D+ in High School Preparation for College in 06 in its latest report. 

·         Educational Reforms Have Cost $1.4 BILLION since 2003, which equals about a 3% sales tax increase in Arkansas. 

In addition there’s this on state achievement assessments:

Arkansas earned a D in kindergarten through 12th grade on student achievement

How can this be though you ask?  Well it seems this report gives more importance to these things (ie government control) as opposed to student achievement:

·        Most money spent per student

·        “Pay for Performance” (means merit  pay for teachers)

·        Several points are given on staff development (staff development is basically promoting a progressive liberal student centered education that has failed over and over, and most teachers will tell you staff development is basically worthless.

·        “Unique identification number assigned to each teacher by state”

·        “Link teacher and student records by course/subject and state assessment results,

·        “Incentives for teachers to earn national-board certification” (studies have shown this does not improve scores)

·        “K-12 has path for industry-recognized certificate or license (Oregon tried to pass a law that students could not get a job unless they had this certificate)  It did not pass but this is how far this government control aspect is promoted by this organization that rated the states and gave Arkansas an 8th ranking.

So basically Mike Huckabee is promoting a ranking not based on student achievement but instead a ranking from an organization that uses its report as a tool for more government control of education.  As a commentor at Townhall.com said:

Huckabee was able to implement Hillary’s educational plan in Arkansas far more completely and rapidly than Hillary could have ever done because he was a Republican. People were just not on the lookout for such control under a Republican.

In fact under Huckabee’s reign, Arkansas has advanced in government control in education faster than any other state in the nation.

Once again Huckabee doesn’t give the full story omitting perhaps the most important part – the grade of D on K-12 student achievement. Thankfully others like Arkansas Watch are around to help fill in the omissions.