The Chicago Tribune Busts the Chicago Public Schools Test Score Numbers

The Chicago Tribune reports:

They must be teaching some new kind of fuzzy math at Chicago Public Schools.

This week Mayor Richard Daley and school officials announced a dramatic jump in the number of pupils who passed their state standardized tests last spring. Daley said this was a "historic day."

"With these results," said Daley, "it's clear we are on our way to becoming the best urban school district in the nation."

Whoa there, Mr. Mayor. How did we get this "historic" jump in performance?

Illinois State Board of Education officials sharply reduced the requirement for a passing score in 8th grade math. We didn't dramatically improve performance. We dramatically lowered the bar.

The desire to show progress in the city's public school system is easy to understand. Progress seems to have slowed after the initial revolution just over a decade ago, when City Hall took over the reins. Indeed that has been frustrating. But please, don't try to sell this as dramatic progress.

City officials reported that 62.5 percent of 3rd through 8th graders in Chicago public schools passed the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. That was a jump from 47.3 percent the previous year.

But the state board in that time lowered the passing score for 8th grade math from the 67th to the 38th percentile. Yes, the score for meeting state standards was cut almost in half.

How about that for a scam on "improving" test scores.No word yet from Barak Obama or Rahm Emanuel or Governor Blagojevich on when they are going to send their kids to those amazing Chicago Public Schools.It's kind of relevant since their kids live in the city and the politicians claim public education is a good thing.