Christian Science Monitor Drinks the EdTrust Kool-Aid

I'm happy to see that the Monitor is back covering real education issues after what seemed like an interminable absence, but I'm a little confused about their choices for their education comeback, and their seeming over-reliance on a popular but only-one-opinion source: the media-friendly Education Trust.

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First in a pair of pieces by staff writer Stacy A. Teicher comes a piece based on the EdTrust's profiles of four ostensibly high-performing high poverty high schools, called Schools build 'cultures of excellence'.

The second a belated -- and suprisingly upbeat -- take on the urban NAEP scores we were all swamped with last week, pointing out that some districts are at or above national averages on the NAEP, and that -- hi again, Kati -- districts have widely varying success rates with similar student populations: City schools bring home better report cards.

Er, welcome back. Much as I admire the EdTrust, however, that's a little much, isn't it?

Previous Posts on Sourcing Issues:

Media Coverage: Unbalanced Sourcing, 101
School Reform As Conflict or Complement
A Lazy Look at High School NAEP Scores
Education Reporting -- The Good, the Lousy, the Lousy
How “Fringe” is FairTest? Very.
The NYT Misses Badly on Education Funding Story