These are the priorities of politicians on the left.
Isn't what you are describing fallout from Prop 13, which capped property taxes, which was the mechanism that funded education? And Prop 13 didn't have anything to do with the left and had everything to do with people who labeled themselves as conservatives.
With Brooks, you have to take care with any evidence he offers. Yes, there is a Southern surge, but the states lauded (specifically Mississippi and Alabama) have historically been on the bottom of any ranking, so I suspect that them moving up is partly statistical. The data is from the NEAP, which only checks students in the 4th, 8th and 12th grade and the bulk of the surge comes from a leap in 4th grade, important to be sure, but it also corresponds with increased federal mandates on testing from No Child left behind in 2002 under Bush and the revised act signed by Obama. Mississippi didn't even have any state level assessments until it joined the PARCC for one year and then opted out.
The NEAP uses a weighted average of subgroups and gives only 4 classifications, Advanced, Proficient, Basic and Below Basic. Now, it's a good thing that more students from Below Basic are lifted up. However, there is both a ceiling effect. Again, I don't think that this means the Southern Surge is all bullshit, but it's not like Mississippi and Alabama are becoming powerhouses, it is that they are becoming more like other states.
The last thing is that the Southern Surge can be partially attributed to the pandemic. Every place had massive drops because of the pandemic. I'm not surprised that states with less developed educational infrastructure (like Mississippi and Alabama) could get up more quickly. The Southern Surge is attributable to Mississippi and Alabama moving up in the rankings, but doesn't really talk about how and why other states dropped to make that happen.
I don't think that the Southern Surge is all hype, I've been reading a lot about the 'Science of Reading' approach, which replaces the Balanced Literacy approach and seems to have made a big difference in these cases. But I suspect that Southern states have had an advantage in shifting to a new system because the teachers in the old system were often under-trained or left to their own devices, so it has been easier to introduce it.
These are the priorities of politicians on the left.
Isn't what you are describing fallout from Prop 13, which capped property taxes, which was the mechanism that funded education? And Prop 13 didn't have anything to do with the left and had everything to do with people who labeled themselves as conservatives.
Here's a link about how things played out in Mississippi
https://www.the74million.org/article/after-steering-mississippis-unlikely-learning-miracle-carey-wright-steps-down/
With Brooks, you have to take care with any evidence he offers. Yes, there is a Southern surge, but the states lauded (specifically Mississippi and Alabama) have historically been on the bottom of any ranking, so I suspect that them moving up is partly statistical. The data is from the NEAP, which only checks students in the 4th, 8th and 12th grade and the bulk of the surge comes from a leap in 4th grade, important to be sure, but it also corresponds with increased federal mandates on testing from No Child left behind in 2002 under Bush and the revised act signed by Obama. Mississippi didn't even have any state level assessments until it joined the PARCC for one year and then opted out.
The NEAP uses a weighted average of subgroups and gives only 4 classifications, Advanced, Proficient, Basic and Below Basic. Now, it's a good thing that more students from Below Basic are lifted up. However, there is both a ceiling effect. Again, I don't think that this means the Southern Surge is all bullshit, but it's not like Mississippi and Alabama are becoming powerhouses, it is that they are becoming more like other states.
The last thing is that the Southern Surge can be partially attributed to the pandemic. Every place had massive drops because of the pandemic. I'm not surprised that states with less developed educational infrastructure (like Mississippi and Alabama) could get up more quickly. The Southern Surge is attributable to Mississippi and Alabama moving up in the rankings, but doesn't really talk about how and why other states dropped to make that happen.
I don't think that the Southern Surge is all hype, I've been reading a lot about the 'Science of Reading' approach, which replaces the Balanced Literacy approach and seems to have made a big difference in these cases. But I suspect that Southern states have had an advantage in shifting to a new system because the teachers in the old system were often under-trained or left to their own devices, so it has been easier to introduce it.