Bloomberg: Live By the Test, Die By the Test

Generalissimo Mike Bloomberg, 8/8/11:

– Mayor Michael Bloomberg says students, teachers and administrators should be very proud of the gains in standardized test scores.

The mayor expressed joy over the latest test scores that show city school kids in grades 3 through 8, making gains in the state’s annual math and English exams.

[...]

Bloomberg said that the “most important” and “encouraging conclusion” from the results was that “city students continue to move in the right direction.”

He added the results were “more evidence that work we are doing here in New York City to invest in teachers, raise standards and hold everyone accountable is paying off.” [emphasis mine]

Generalissimo Mike Bloomberg, 7/12/12:

The study by the city’s Independent Budget Office looked at 46,400 students who were third graders in 2006 and tracked their performance on the state’s English Language Arts exams through sixth grade. Nearly 62 percent ended up at the same proficiency level three years later.

“The primary finding is one of consistency,” said Raymond Domanico, director of testing research for the budget office. “Generally, kids stayed at the same performance level relative to their grade over the three years of the study.”

[...]

The Education Department called the study “flawed.”

“Testing experts know that performance levels on New York State tests cannot be compared from grade to grade without additional analysis, which this study failed to complete or consider,” said a spokeswoman, Jessica Scaperotti.

So test results are great when they're great! But they suck when they're not! You can trust them to evaluate teachers so much we should publish the "bad" teachers' names in the newspaper! Except when they're used to evaluate the mayor; then they're "flawed"!

Or something; it's confusing...

I think we can come to one scientifically sound conclusion based on this data: when it comes to education, Mike Bloomberg has no idea what he is doing.

Think I'm bad? Wait until Eva Moskowitz takes over!

ADDING: Why "Generalissimo"? Well...