A few additional thoughts on the post below about margins of error, etc., based on the comments in this and earlier posts. (An aside: My take on anonymous commenting is pretty much akin to my take on anonymous blogging: Why? It’s a free country, nobody’s going to yank you out of your house in the [...]
All Posts Tagged: 'Margins of Error'
The Schools We Have, or the Schools We Need
Last week I wrote about the practice of applying statistical margins of error to the percent of students in a school who pass a test. It’s a goofy idea, I said, because: “unlike opinion polls, NCLB doesn’t test a sample of students. It tests all students. The only way states can even justify using MOEs [...]
Margins of Error
Kevin Drum wrote a good post a couple of weeks ago about statistical illiteracy in the media, viz. the widespread tendency to characterize election poll results in which one candidate’s percentage point lead is equal to or less than the poll’s statistical margin of error (MOE) as a “statistical tie” or “dead heat.” Kevin notes:
…probability [...]
Lowering Student Loan Default Rates: What One Consortium of Historically Black Institutions Did to Succeed 
College and Career-Ready: Using Outcomes Data to Hold High Schools Accountable for Student Success
03/19/10 | Ben Miller is quoted on college graduation rates and the NCAA Tournament in the Detroit Free Press.
03/19/10 | Linda Perlstein links to Education Sector's "College- and Career-Ready" event.
03/17/10 | Ben Miller's column on graduation rates and NCAA Tournament eligibility is mentioned on The Wall Street Journal's The Daily Fix.
03/17/10 | Kevin Carey's critique of Diane Ravitch's latest book is quoted in Doublethink's Conventional Folly blog.
03/15/10 | Ben Miller pens an op-ed for US News & World Report on using graduation rates to determine NCAA Tournament eligibility.