Latest "Chiefs For Change" Fail: Barresi in OK

Let's check in on the latest of Jeb! Bush's "Chiefs For Change" failures. This time we're heading out west to Oklahoma:

“I had zero involvement in the process from start to finish personally.” These were the words of Janet Barresi when interviewed about the recent end-of-year “high stakes” tests administered to thousands of students throughout Oklahoma. These comments would've been understandable and acceptable had they been made by a school custodian, a school bus driver or a school food service worker, but they weren't. They were uttered by the state schools superintendent. 

The tests are called “high stakes” because the results affect so many people on so many levels. For students, the results determine their academic and personal futures, for teachers and administrators the results determine their professional and personal futures, and for individual schools the results determine their API scores and property values in the school's surrounding community. Additionally, for taxpayers the results determine the return on their investment in public education. 

The whole process can be distilled down to one word: accountability. Barresi needs to learn the meaning and impact of that word quickly. Oklahomans, particularly the students, deserve a state schools superintendent personally involved in the process, from start to finish. 

Larry DeMarchi, Norman [emphasis mine]

When things head south for any of the "Chiefs," it's never their fault. That's the sort of "accountability" you learn from the Bush family...

Heckuva job, Janet!

Where did I find these people?

ADDING: Golly, I'm sure Oklahoma will get it right next time...

In the past 10 years, Oklahoma has used five testing companies, ending contracts with companies either because the state was dissatisfied or could find a better price for a bid.

In 2004, Harcourt Assessments Inc. printed the incorrect answers to sample questions on state tests for Oklahoma eighth-graders, eliciting an apology from the company.

In 2001, Riverside Publishing was fired in Oklahoma for significant delays in student test results.

In 1997, Harcourt Publishing sent the wrong writing exams to 80,000 Oklahoma students in eighth and 11th grades.

Before McGraw, the state had three testing contracts with Pearson Education, a global education services company. Pearson had handled Oklahoma's end-of-instruction high school exams since 2007.

But in 2011, Barresi announced that Pearson had made data calculation errors.

This year, McGraw wasn't the only testing company to falter during Oklahoma's testing season. Pearson experienced testing difficulties that affected portfolio assessments. Portfolios are used in lieu of tests for profoundly disabled students.

Clearly, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is off her rocker when she calls for a moratorium on high-stakes consequences for standardized tests because of errors like this. Good job, "Chiefs," in attacking Weingarten for something she didn't say! I mean, who cares if some teachers lose their jobs because of testing errors?

Gotta break some eggs and all that...