The Reformy Dr. Steve Perry Show - Part I

Dr. Steve Perry is a CNN contributor, an author, a speaker, and a magnet school principal. He is also a dedicated teachers union basher. So we're going to take a good, hard look at him; hope he's ready.

Here's some prime, red, reformy meat Dr. Perry recently served up via Twitter:

@DrStevePerry Agree. Imma teacher 2. Find creative ways 2 supp income. It is what it is. At the end of the day, I'm in charge of my career.

Pay attention to who is fighting for what. Recognize NONE of these clowns ever mention kids. It's all about our kids' poverty & their pay.

"@situpsnstiletos: @DrStevePerry very insulting." These folks want you to believe they were FORCED into education. If it's too much, quit.

@stopthefreezeNJ @CNN Enjoy your day off. Maybe you should do some real research. Then talk about something other than getting a raise.

@ED_IN_DE @christal_watts @dropoutnation Bottom line. YOU have NEVER run a successful school anywhere, not even in your mind. Watch & learn.

@ED_IN_DE @DrStevePerry: Given that the average teacher earns $53,168, gets a taxpayer-subsidized pension, and near-free healthcare benefits
Retweeted by Dr. Steve Perry

How many people NOT in public education get almost 4 months of per year every year for 35 yrs?

@DrStevePerry I agree! Even in the greatest profession on Earth there exists pompous, ignorant and selfish individuals!
Retweeted by Dr. Steve Perry

"@2Shakeology: @DrStevePerry If that's how they feel, let them pack their bags and get to stepping. Step out of education and free our kids"

@christal_watts @TeacherReality Real teachers are protected by their talent/results not opportunists fighting to maintain unequal education.

@TeacherReality @GovChristie Union flunkies who want teachers to follow like mindless drones are robbing the profession of its greatness.

So, here we go again: teachers make too much, they're all lazy, union sucks, blah, blah, blah...

Funny thing with Dr. Steve, though: we can actually take a look at his school and see what's up. I'll be doing that over the next several days, but let's start with a little gift I just got from a certain education finance professor:

Let me see if I can explain: this is a map of part of Hartford, CT, where Dr. Perry runs the Capital Preparatory Magnet School. I'm just getting up to speed on how Hartford's magnet program works, but there is an admissions process and a lottery; further, the school draws not just from the city, but from the surrounding suburbs.

The circles on this map each represent a school. If you click on the image to blow it up, you can read the key on the side: the larger and darker the circle, the greater the percentage of "Free Lunch" students - our best available way to measure poverty.

Do you see how many of the circles are large and dark? There's a lot of poverty in Hartford. But, wait: what's that small, pink circle by the river. Which school is that? Why, it's Capital Prep (misspelled in the NCES data)!

Well, what do you know: Dr. Perry is running a "successful" school that has far less childhood poverty than it's neighbors. But he's saying the problem with schools today are unions. Anyone see the problem with this kind of thinking?

More to come...