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Celebrating Process Over Performance

The title of this post is without a doubt the theme of the Richardson Administration. The latest example of this can be found here:

The [The State of State Science Standards 2005] report credited eight states — Virginia, New York, New Mexico, Tennessee, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland and West Virginia — with adopting new science standards since 2000 that boosted the states’ grades from “Ds” or “Fs” to “As” and “Bs”.

In New Mexico, which ranks near the bottom on nearly every education ranking, education officials were elated to go from an “F” to an “A” this year. The state’s new science standards were designed in partnership with scientists at New Mexico-based Los Alamos National Laboratory, state Education Secretary Veronica Garcia told Stateline.org.

“What we’re dealing with in New Mexico are the growing pains of education reform. Our standards recently have become much more rigorous and as we get our teachers better trained to meet the higher standards we believe student achievement will follow,” Garcia said.
To illustrate how ridiculous it is celebrate these process improvements, let’s put the Secretary’s comments into a business context. Imagine reading this in a business publication:

At Company X, which ranks near the bottom on nearly every business ranking, business officials were elated to go from an “F” to an “A” this year. The company’s new employee policy and procedures manuals were designed in partnership with professors at New Mexico state universities, CEO Veronica Garcia told Forbes Magazine.

“What we’re dealing with at Company X are the growing pains of business reform. Our new procedures manuals recently have become much more rigorous and as we get our employees better trained to meet the higher standards we believe shareholder value will follow,” Garcia said.


Would you invest in this company?