Education 'Miracle' Has a Math Problem - Bush Critics Cite Disputed Housto

Education 'Miracle' Has a Math Problem
Bush Critics Cite Disputed Houston Data
By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 8, 2003; Page A01

HOUSTON -- When the state of Texas bestowed "exemplary" status on Austin High School in August 2002, ecstatic administrators compared the honor to winning the Super Bowl. There was more cheering and pompom-waving a few weeks later when a private foundation honored Houston for having the nation's best urban school district.

Just a year later, the high school has been downgraded to "low-performing," the lowest possible rating. And the Houston Independent School District -- showcase of the "Texas educational miracle" that President Bush has touted as a model for the rest of the nation -- is fending off accusations that it inflated its achievements through fuzzy math.

Austin is one of more than a dozen Houston high schools caught up in a burgeoning scandal about the reliability of their dropout statistics. During a decade in which, routinely, as many as half of Austin students failed to graduate, the school's reported dropout rate fell from 14.4 percent to 0.3 percent. Even a Houston school board member calls the statistic "baloney."

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"It is all phony; it's just like Enron," said Linda McNeil, a professor of education at Houston's Rice University, referring to the bankrupt Houston-based energy services company that boosted its stock price by covering up losses. "Enron was concerned about appearances, not real economic results. That pretty much describes what we have been doing to our children in Houston."

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EDITED BY ADMIN FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS

They're really uptight about it; they've sued or threatened to sue other websites.

Of course, Houston is where Bush's Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, came from. Prior to that, the establishment was grooming Seattle's Superintendent John Stanford, a retired general who was praised by Colin Powell. Stanford was a total disaster. Like Paige, he was African American. Ever notice how there are no Asian American superstars in the world of education?

My Ass! Didn't Shrub's Dept of Education Guy come out of Houston area?

Because the rest of us haven't seen anyone or anything that has to do with integrity come out of Texas in a long time.

Just look at the grocery list:

1) Enron in Houston.

2) scandalous police and prosecutorial racism in Tulia, Texas.

3) DNA test labs unlicensed and incompetent in Houston.

4) Prejudicial redistricting in the State House.

5) Fraudulent school numbers in Austin, Texas.

6) A president who will be remembered as either the biggest crook or the most stupidist man on the face of this planet.

What have I forgotten? What's happening in Dallas?

The only bright news from Texas has come from the brave Texas Dems who stood up to the tidal wave of redistricting. So I say today, we all say a prayer for Texans. They need them.