Comments about ‘Utah receives low marks in separate education reports’

Re: "Utah receives low marks"

Liberal California politicians consider it a "badge of honor" to receive low marks for accountability and choice. Real people in Utah consider our badge of honor to have been earned by low marks from, what amounts to the trade publication of the teachers' union.

Education Week's mission statement expresses pride in its founding principle -- opposition to Reagan administration reforms. Its donor list is a roundup of the usual liberal suspects, including the California Endowment, Carnegie Fund, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GE Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Wallace Foundation, and an "anonymous funder" that sounds like a Soros front group.

Receiving low marks from a group that values per-pupil funding above such result-oriented factors as test scores and collegiate-level success is, indeed, a badge of honor.

So, two organizations that have their own agendas to push rank Utah low. Why aren't their links to their reports? I would like to know how they came up with the rankings, and what agendas these organizations have. Currently, I can only assume that the rankings aren't exactly relevant to the real quality of education in Utah.

I wish I had the words to express my outrage. Unfortunately, I went to Utah public schools, so I will have to get out one of those word describing thingys and get back to you.

This grade sounds meaningless. I'll put my Utah public education against anyone's public or private. I have yet to meet anyone at the universities I have attennded who have had significantly better k-12 educations.

Hey, DN: Is it too much to ask that you include a link to the reports in your article?

The Students First assessment is a huge joke. Any education report that ranks LA and DC near the top is measuring the wrong things......

Ugh... there, their, they're. I'll blame my previous error on the early morning. I was still asleep. I know I should profread before I submit anything. I learned that from my Utah public education. The reality is, we all make mistakes and need to own up to them. We can't blame anyone else.

Eco 101

You get what you pay for.

When you have two groups who are trying to take down public education putting out reports, you have to question the veracity of those reports in all manners. Michelle Rhee had an agenda when she went to Washington, D.C. and Washington, D.C. should not be in the top listing and the data doesn't show that. Our Utah legislators for at least 20 years have their tongue in cheek along with several governors when they state they are for public education. The Deseret News doesn't really show any holes in this article by a biased Michelle Rhee and Tea Party type groups that just want to show negative issues with their skewed reports.

Public education is for all the people in our state and country. Those states that have high parochial and private schools don't put the money for public education. No Child Left Behind may have sounded good right after 9/11 but it's goal was not to benefit public education.

State Universities benefit society as a whole with students from private, public and quasi public charter schools in Utah.

Public education needs support from the legislature instead of negatives with the Education associations state and districts.

Michelle Rhee and Students First don't rank Utah High on items they are pushing as their agenda. Well if Utah was rated high them, would it improve education in Utah? I doubt it. Why, because they have an Orwellian name doesn't mean they really believe students are first because the reforms they are promoting won't improve education or put students first.

Public education is not so hot. Better to give vouchers to all children.