Those Numbers

A story not to miss today is the Sun's questioning of Mike's school numbers. I haven't entirely teased this out, but the question seems to be: Are there any tests on which New York City students are outperforming other students around the state and nation, as well as students in parochial and charter schools here? Because if not, it's not clear that the test scores are actually getting better. As Eva Moskowitz has noted, flat test scores wouldn't necessarily mean some things about the school system aren't getting better. But the Department of Education's lack of interest in her attempt to pursue the point during this hearing (search: "parochial") is not exactly heartening. And as the Sun reports, a number of experts aren't convinced.