Williams' History of Success: A REAL look at the data

If you haven't already, take a look at Simon's editorial in today's News, "Debating whether the past is prologue for Williams".

Simon's "analysis" centers around this principal claim:

When ninth-grade achievement tests were launched in Ohio in 1995-96, Dayton's scores ranked near the bottom in relation to the state's comparable urban districts.

And when Williams' contract was bought out three years later, ninth-grade achievement continued to be below the levels in other Ohio cities.

People will read what they want into the data, as obviously Simon already has. But consider this:

If you look at the 9th grade assessments that are used in Ohio, Dayton made progress in every one of the five areas tested during Dr. Williams’ tenure there. In fact the trend even continued for a couple of years after he left, which indicates that there was a system in place that resulted in continuous improvement.

I would have to say that improvement in every area, year after year, would have to be viewed as a positive indicator. If that were the case in Buffalo, we would be pretty pleased with that.

I am disappointed that some people are trying to portray this data as negative. According to the state education officials cited in the news report, Dayton is most similar to Youngstown in terms of demographics. If you compare the data between those two districts, Dayton outperformed its closed peer on every measure.
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My "Criticism of William's Foes Blasted". Really? Or Does This Just Make My Point?

In today's Buffalo News, a letter I distributed in support of James A. Williams leads the first six paragraphs of Peter Simon's article. I'm glad the News ran most of my letter as the readership of the paper is a lot larger than my Rolodex and I'm glad folks have a chance to read why I support this candidate.

In a letter to community opinion-makers, Johnson praised Williams' reform efforts in Dayton, Ohio, and called him "a turnaround specialist" who will "build a new culture based on performance, achievement and accountability" in Buffalo.

"He hired outside contractors for non-education related work," Johnson said. "He pushed for merit pay. He's created magnet schools. He weathered a union strike by hiring teachers from outside the district and forced the union back to the table. This kind of reform upsets the status quo, but it's exactly the kind of change we need."

Johnson said the school district is "in a crisis mode," characterized by low test scores and loss of students to charter schools.

"Anyone who cares about student achievement and teacher effectiveness and real change in the district needs to stand behind Dr. Williams," Johnson wrote. "His only opponents are people who have a vested interest in things staying the same."

The rest of the article really is an amusing study in irony. I wrote that the only people who would oppose Williams' candidacy were people with a vested interest in things staying the same. And, low and behold, the only people upset by my letter were Phil Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teacher's Federation, and Anthony Palano, president of the union that represents Buffalo principals, both of whom I should thank for making my point.
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