NY Times damns the entire Calif. school system -- and gets it dead wrong

July 5, 3:28 PMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

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Today’s New York Times Sunday magazine, in an article about the California gubernatorial race, declares: “Test scores in (California) public schools are plummeting” – in the reporter’s voice, without attribution or elaboration.

Everything I can find indicates that California test scores have been moving upward:

California Department of Education press release, Aug. 14, 2008:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today released the results of the 2008 Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program that show California students continue to make steady gains in English-language arts, math, science, and social science.
"California public school students are continuing to make solid, steady progress learning the skills and concepts necessary for success in school and in life. Since 2003, 532,494 more California students have become proficient in English-language arts and 415,129 more students have become proficient in math. While we still have a lot of work to do to reach our goal of universal proficiency, this year's gains are particularly encouraging considering they build upon five years of steady growth," O'Connell said.

It’s an ongoing issue to public education advocates who view ourselves as resisters against efforts to “run schools like a business” that the privatization faction insists on portraying our schools in a far worse light than they deserve. Why would the Times leap into that with a flat-out inaccuracy – stated in an authoritative tone implying that no backup is even needed for such an obvious truth?

And speaking of troubled institutions, does the Times staff not realize that its survival is as fragile as the California economy? Sorry to repeat myself, but here's my message, again, to my colleagues in the press: Your existence is fragile. Your credibility is what you have left. Please try to take care of it.