MSM SHILLING FOR TENENBAUM, PUSHING U.S. ED. DEPT. POST

In yet another great example of how the traditional media is dooming itself to failure, The State newspaper ran an entire article Sunday about the fact that some guy who writes for Newsweek likes former South Carolina Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum.

No, he doesn’t like her “like that.” But being the loud-mouthed liberal that he is, columnist Howard Fineman recommended President-elect Barack Obama choose Tenenbaum to head the U.S. Department of Education. And, naturally, The State felt the need to run this as news.

He cited her track record in South Carolina, where Tenenbaum implemented accountability.

Fineman, who said Tenenbaum is a long shot, notes President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet so far is filled with candidates who hail from the nation’s urban centers and from elite universities.

Tenenbaum is from a small Georgia town, has lived most of her adult life in South Carolina and is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of South Carolina.

“But what Tenenbaum has can’t be measured by Ivy League degrees or big-city job titles. She has gumption, and a willingness to take risks,” Fineman writes. [The State]

First of all, I love that The State dubbed this a “high-profile endorsement.” Hell, I technically wrote for Newsweek for a couple months back in the day, does that mean I’m worthy of giving out “high-profile endorsements”?

Secondly, “gumption”? Forrest Gumption, maybe.

Gumption as in perpetuating the failed policies that have run this state’s education into the ground, perhaps.

Tenenbaum may not have done as poor of a job overseeing education in South Carolina as current Superintendent Jim Rex, but that’s like saying Joseph Stalin wasn’t the worst dictator to ever live due to the fact that Adolph Hitler killed a few million more people.

My friends at the Voice for School Choice broke it down like this:

In addition to the notoriety of overseeing the nation’s worst performing public education system for eight years, Tenenbaum is well-remembered for her constant pleading to “stay the course” no matter how bad things got in local public schools. Based on South Carolina’s massive $11,480.00 per student spending, it seemed to work.

What didn’t work were the schools themselves.

Despite claims of “huge” and “sustained” gains in educational quality, South Carolina public school SAT scores hovered around the mark for “50th” in the nation during all eight years of Tenenbaum’s administration.

In fact, the marginal gains in average South Carolina SAT scores can almost totally be accounted for by a national trend toward better scores during that period. When Tenenbaum took office in 1998, the average SAT score in South Carolina was 951, an unbelievable 66 points behind the national average. In 2005, the year Tenenbaum left office, the average SAT score was only 993; still 35 points below the national average. During that time, national averages also climbed from 1017 to 1028. Even today, the wealthy all-white upper middle class school districts in Upstate South Carolina earn average SAT scores more than 100 points behind their North Carolina peers.

Even more sobering is the shameful growth in racial and poverty-based achievement gaps during- and since- the Tenenbaum years.

Other states have managed to successfully diminish the achievement gap between black and white students, but gaps actually increased during Tenenbaum’s term in office. After Tenenbaum was sworn in (1998), gaps on NAEP reading scores between white and black 8th graders grew. These gaps are still growing. Similarly, between 2000 and 2005 (Tenenbaum’s last year in office) gaps in NAEP mathematics scores increased between black and white 8th graders.

Another unpleasant reminder of the Tenenbaum administration is the gross miscalculation of graduation rates among South Carolina public schools. In a New York Times article from earlier this year, South Carolina was pointed to as one of the nation’s worst offenders when it comes to having large gaps between the number of students who are reported as graduating, and the number who actually receive high school diplomas. The ploy to boost reported graduation rates was so embarrassingly transparent that current US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings had to single out South Carolina in an effort to bring about a more “uniform” reporting standard. Despite the national media attention, it is estimated that up to 150 students drop out of South Carolina public schools each school day.

Tenenbaum created a loyal political following by constantly pointing to “high standards” and “rapid improvement.” However, Tenenbaum’s praise of South Carolina’s “high standards” rings false when put up against how schools actually performed. In fact, this year’s “Quality Counts” study by Education Week states that South Carolina may deserve an “A” for standards, but the state education system also deserves an “F” for K-12 achievement in meeting those standards!

If Tenenbaum’s cheery reminders about standards can be taken as fact, then objective performance is of no concern as long as the bar is set high.

Low graduation rates, low achievement test scores, and a widening racial achievement gap continue to flourish in South Carolina public schools. Are these problems that need to be reproduced on a national scale? Hopefully not.

Tenenbaum’s legacy in South Carolina is one of platitudes, underperformance, and condescendingly low academic expectations. Based on real academic achievement during her terms as superintendent, and the failure of her much-vaunted “reforms,” Tenenbaum is the last person that needs to be put in charge of the nation’s most powerful education office. If her actual record is ignored, and she is appointed, the rest of the country can expect to be in the same position as South Carolina students: still reeling from the shock years later.

So, yeah, Tenenbaum may present herself and her “achievements” as lovable and well-intended, just like Forrest Gump. But, let’s not forget, Forrest Gump also had an I.Q. of 75.

And that’s not exactly what the already-overinflated U.S. Department of Education needs right now.