It's what Balow didn't tell you about NAEP that reveals the truth of Wyo's mediocre schools

“A truth that's told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent.” – William Blake

BY D. REED ECKHARDT

            Once again the Wyoming Department of Education is using the truth to tell a lie. And the biggest losers are the people of the Cowboy State.

            The principal lie coming out of the education agency and its leader, State Superintendent Jillian Balow, is

Wyoming was 1 of only 3 states where 4th grade math declined on NAEP.

that Wyoming’s schools are doing well and that the state’s kids are getting great educations. It’s simply not true, and there are virtually no facts to back up the myth.

            But wait a minute, you say. The local newspaper recently trumpeted on its front page, in large type, “Wyoming students testing above average,” as reported by Balow. Doesn’t that say this state’s schools are doing well?

            Unfortunately not. 

But that is the lie Balow hopes to perpetuate when she makes these sorts of grand declarations. And since these pronouncements go unchallenged by the lazy media that simply serve as her echo chamber, the people of Wyoming sleep well at night because they falsely believe their children are well tended to.

            Consider a couple of things.

            First, being above average on NAEP (the National Assessment of Education Progress), which is what the recent reporting was all about, is not that big a deal. With the national bar set as low as it is – about one-third of America’s children test as “proficient or above” on a wide range of subjects – Wyoming had better be above average, given the amount of money it pours into its schools.

And it’s not news that Wyoming is above average on NAEP. It has been above average on the national test for years. But when it’s reported as a big deal, as it was recently, that simply allows Balow and the state’s other education leaders and legislators to maintain the myth.

As usual with this state superintendent, the real news is not in what she says, but in what she doesn’t.

What Balow chose not to report is that Wyoming’s scores actually went down from two years ago. Yes, in fourth-grade and eighth-grade math and reading, the focuses of this year’s report, the Cowboy State’s numbers actually declined, and they declined in a statistically significant manner.

In other words, while Balow was pointing to the average score, she was distracting Wyomingites from the fact that her department – and the state’s school districts – are failing to do their jobs, which is to grow these scores and help this state’s children better prepare for their futures.

It should be noted as well that only three states had statistically significant drops in their scores in fourth-grade math and only seven in eighth-grade math. Balow apparently forgot to mention that.

She also used the truth to tell the lie in another way.

She made certain that the media knew that 87 percent of Wyoming kids are testing at basic or above in math. That number certainly glitters and looked good on the front page of the local newspaper.

But again, it’s lie that fails to tell the truth.

If you dig into the numbers, you will see basic performance should not be the performance goal – that’s simply the low bar Balow sets to make things look better.

A better number is how many of Wyoming students are proficient, able to do what it takes to succeed, in math and reading, There, you will find that 47.8 percent – less than half – of Wyoming fourth-graders are testing at proficient and above, and just 37.1 percent, barely one in three, of eighth-graders are. And, to repeat, both scores are down from the 2017 numbers.

Similarly in reading, just 40.5 percent of Wyoming fourth-graders are performing at a proficient level as are 33.9 percent of eighth-graders.

So much for the overall success of Wyoming’s students.

In the local newspaper’s story, Balow is quoted as saying this about the NAEP results:

“This is one metric that we take pretty seriously in Wyoming. It’s not the only metric, but it’s a big piece of the puzzle.”

There are lies and there are damned lies. This is a damned lie.

If Balow were taking these scores seriously, she would not be treating them as a cheerleader, standing on the sidelines and pretending her team is winning when it is getting hammered 46-0. Rather, she would be acting like that old-school high school football coach who refuses to accept mediocre play from his team and demands that they play better and then coaches them up on how to do so.

That is not what is happening in Wyoming. Balow, the Legislature and others should be setting the bar high and pushing teachers, schools and districts toward excellence. Instead, this state’s leaders continue to accept barely average performance from their schools while feigning greatness.

And that is a shame. This state has the ability to produce a top-notch education system – small student numbers, high spending, a desire to lead rather than follow. Yet still the Cowboy State settles for this “above national average” performance based on a bar that couldn’t be set much lower.

The lie that Wyoming has great schools is set deep in this state’s culture and mindset. But maintaining myths and using facts to tell lies does not serve the Cowboy State well. It’s past time for more real honesty from Balow and less playing fast and loose with the truth. The future of this state, which is facing a radical restructuring as carbon-based fuels fade, depends on it.

D. Reed Eckhardt is the former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.