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Oh, sweet, sweet sarcasm… how I love you so.
Sometimes you make the point so much better than any dry analysis can.
I think that’s the case with a local blogger’s recent evisceration of The Albuquerque Journal’s questionable decision to publish test results from every single elementary classroom in the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS).
The information dump on the paper’s Web site accompanied a March 3 story in the paper’s print edition explaining how it obtained the information and why it was publishing it.
Published on the Web site along with the massive list of test scores and teacher names were statements from both the Albuquerque Teachers Federation and APS, warning that considering one year’s worth of information as any kind of measure of achievement or teaching skill was unreliable and unfair to teachers.
Now, the test scores are all public information, and I am in favor of public information being public.
But I don’t really understand how publishing test scores of kids who’ve only been in class for 22 weeks next to the name of their teachers really informs anyone of anything meaningful.
Local blogger Scot Key, a middle-school teacher who blogs at `Burque Babble, takes the Journal to task in this scathing post which I find funny but sad.
As an APS parent and serious news consumer, I would rather see the Journal devote space to reporting and analysis of educational programs that work and of promising reforms and models of cooperation that enrich employees and students while cutting costs.
And here’s something else: I used to cover the education beat for the Journal. So I have a little bit of insight into what the Journal thinks is important about APS and a lot of bad memories of stuff I was asked to do as the paper’s school board — I mean — school reporter.
Stuff like doing exposes on which teachers gave homework and how much, sneaking up on teacher in-services to make sure they were really working in there and calling the superintendents at 11 p.m. with inane questions because an editor said, “He works for me, dammit.”
I can’t count how many times I had to argue that printing a particular teacher’s salary was not relevant to the story I was writing about that person’s teaching methods or his or her rapport with students or recent awards.
So let me just say this: Teachers are not the enemy. Nor are they miracle workers. And they’re not high-paid public employees sitting around and looking for ways to get out of doing work.
They are the people who teach our kids.
Updates
Looking back over the last several weeks, I’ve decided a few of my columns need updates:
After taking the Journal to task for its testing story, I am not ashamed to pivot and praise the paper for devoting virtually the entire front page of the Monday, March 2, edition to pictures of 18 troubled women who the police know have gone missing since 2001, plus two more Journal columnist/reporter Joline Gutierrez-Krueger knows about. The pictures accompanied an impassioned story full of good reporting and blunt questions from Gutierrez-Krueger, who asks why the police can’t see fit to characterize the 13 people found buried on the West Mesa as murder victims.
This comes in the wake of growing public concern over the discovery of the bodies, only three of whom have been identified so far. Recently, Albuquerque police announced they would hold a memorial service for the victims.
It’s a good start.
Other members of the media are becoming more responsive to criticism about coverage as well. KOB-TV investigative reporter has created a blog about the murders, in which he asks some thoughtful questions about the police, the media, the victims and their families.
“I hope I’m not creating too much work for myself,” KOB’s Jeremy Jojola writes on one of his first posts.
With 13 bodies and counting, don’t count on it, Jeremy.
Will the fight over broadcasting the Legislature ever end? It’s tough to keep track, but it looks like the idea of shedding light on the lawmaking process has steadily gained credence throughout this legislative session. But we really won’t know until the session’s over and Gov. Richardson signs it into law for next year and forever after.
Or not.
The short update is: E.W. Scripps closed Colorado’s oldest and arguably most popular newspaper on Feb. 26, a scant 55 days short of its 150th birthday. The newspaper’s 228 staffers were given one day to prepare a final paper and bid goodbye to their loyal readers. Click here (but only if you’re super-wonky) for a devastating (and long) analysis of why the Rocky really closed, written by the Rocky’s top business writer, David Milstead.
News junkies can debate whether newspapers are still important or have become a hopelessly outdated form of communication. But I do know good journalism is crucial, and it’s tough to do it without some kind of structure, income for writers and investigators.
And let’s face it — present Web site excepted — very few online columnists, reporters and bloggers get paid these days for originating and writing the news.
Opinion writers (like me?) are a dime a dozen!
But good old-fashioned reporters — our democracy can’t afford to let them slip away.
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