Misunderstanding? Hardly!

This is getting ridiculous. The Tulsa World reports this morning that Superintendent Barresi is claiming to parents that the authors of the report ripping Oklahoma’s A-F Report Card system to shreds have recanted on their findings. Nothing could be further from the truth.

They haven’t changed their opinions. They haven’t apologized. They weren’t in the least bit wrong. They used sound research methods to point out a plethora of flaws. University of Oklahoma professor Patrick Forsyth says that none of the research team members have spoken about the findings to anyone at the SDE:

“I just think that there isn’t anyone at the state Department (of Education) who can really understand the scope of the critique,” he said. “From what was reported to me, the superintendent is just essentially dismissive of the report.”

Forsyth added that the entire A-F system is not worth saving, and that the department should start over.

It’s one thing to claim, as the Oklahoman did, that the findings don’t ring true. They’re entitled to their wrong opinion. Making up stories about researchers seeing the error of their ways is an altogether different story.

This was no misunderstanding, as the SDE now claims. This was an attempt to deceive parents – which pretty much is the problem with A-F Report Cards in a nutshell.