Standardized Test Scores Matter.
We’ve examined the students’ test scores from every angle. Now, let’s look at the superintendent’s.
The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) set an ultimatum for the Little Rock School District (LRSD) in February, 2019: Improve your students’ ACT-Aspire scores, or be “reconstituted” by the state.
Sadly, there hasn’t been much improvement on ACT-Aspire scores. According to Cynthia Howell in today’s Democrat-Gazette, Superintendent Mike Poore told her, “Based on performance data, it doesn’t look like we will meet that exit criteria in my mind for any of our F schools.” Lobbyists and politicians are weighing in on what’s next for LRSD, but it will ultimately be the State Board of Education (chaired by the aunt of one of the lobbyists) who decides the district’s fate.
While we wait for their profit-driven decision, let’s take a look at LRSD Superintendent Mike Poore.
Johnny Key brought Mike Poore from Bentonville in 2016, without a search or interview process, to replace Baker Kurrus who was impeding Key’s efforts to grow new charter schools in Little Rock. Poore’s current contract with LRSD keeps him in office until the end of the 2019–20 school year.
I suspect that Johnny Key picked Mike Poore for the LRSD job because Poore is incapable of the work.
If, as it seems, Johnny Key and Governor Asa Hutchinson are rooting for LRSD to “fail” so they can build an all-charter school district like New Orleans, they need an incompetent man to be the district’s captain while its ship sinks.
It might seem harsh for me to imply that Mike Poore is not qualified for his own job. After all, he’s up against some seriously entrenched corruption, at the dark heart of a political war. Even a highly qualified person would struggle against those odds. However, I am not only talking about Poore’s failures in LRSD when I suggest he lacks the ability to guide LRSD’s students to success on their ACT-Aspire scores. I am referring, specifically, to Poore’s own standardized test scores.
When Mike Poore enrolled at Harding University to take a couple classes in 2011–12, Harding required him to submit his scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for consideration alongside his transcript. Mike Poore took the GRE on November 19, 2011. He scored TERRIBLY.
The GRE rates test-takers (all of whom have completed or almost-completed undergraduate degrees) in three categories: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing. According to his test scores, Mike Poore is failing at all of these things.
- According to the GRE website, “The Verbal Reasoning measure of the GRE® General Test assesses your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and synthesize information obtained from it, analyze relationships among component parts of sentences and recognize relationships among words and concepts.”
Verbal Reasoning was Mike Poore’s highest score, but it appears only to put him “close” to grade-level proficiency (ranked at 42%.)
Poore’s “basic” grasp of Verbal Reasoning suggests he’s inconsistent about identifying a theme or message, able to decode unfamiliar words but not always able to interpret meaning from context, and able to express only a vague idea of the author’s beliefs.
2. Quantitative Reasoning, according to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, “requires students to think critically and apply basic mathematics and statistics skills to interpret data, draw conclusions, and solve problems within a disciplinary or interdisciplinary context.”
Mike Poore is apparently really, really bad at interpreting data, drawing conclusions, and solving problems with basic math and statistics. His GRE percentile rank in Quantitative Reasoning was 19%, or “in need of support.”
3. The Analytical Writing portion of the GRE consists of writing two essays, each in 30 minutes or less. The Manhattan Review says both essays “are intended to test critical thinking and the ability to articulate and evaluate complex arguments and discussions.” Analytical Writing is Mike Poore’s weakest skill. Poore’s percentile rank in Analytical Writing indicates he is “below basic,” — or in need of LOTS of support — at 11%.
How do Mike Poore’s scores compare to other candidates for graduate school in Education? His scores are much lower.
Even stipulating that most people pursuing graduate degrees in Education score lower on the GRE than other people entering graduate school (except engineers taking the verbal portion of the test,) Mike Poore doesn’t meet the low standards of the Education community.
With a salary like $225,000 on offer, Johnny Key could have hired the very best superintendent available. Too bad for the LRSD community that Key hired Mike Poore.
Maybe Johnny Key secretly thinks that standardized tests are a bad way to measure somebody’s achievement, aptitude, and growth — despite completely relying on high-stakes testing to gauge student success. That would be ironic, right? It’s hypocritical to insist that kids must be measured this way, but to ignore the same type of evidence when it applies to adults.
