More self-delusion from the newspaper:In Our View: Sorting Out SATs - Despite lowest scores on record, there was plenty of good news in test results

No, there wasn't.

From their "Nothing to see here, move along" file:

The editorial in question, restated, could have been headlined thusly on the Titanic:

In Our View: What did that bump mean? - Despite slamming into that huge iceberg, there was plenty of good news in the sound.

As the article also explained, The College Board, which owns and administers the test, said that a record number of students in the high school Class of 2011 had taken the exam. The College Board also explained that the pool of test-takers reflected increasing diversity.

Utter nonsense.

Without a comparison to the number of high school students generally, that more students are taking the test is utterly meaningless.  It could be the equivalent of saying that record numbers of people are dying... without explaining that we have record numbers of people, period.

The same can be said for that liberal watchword, "diversity."  Considering the "end of the world "pronouncements" from this very newspaper over the passage of I-200, it is nice to see them admit, no matter how indirectly, that they were flat wrong about the impacts of that Initiative... but the "diversity" of the test takers is likely a matter of increased "minority" numbers... again, not provided in this editorial.

The problem isn't the packaging.  The problem?  The results... what the paper relies on to cut the teachers, who they absolutely fail to hold responsible for this catastrophic outcome, yet another break; is absolute nonsense.

Failure is failure.  These figures are yet ANOTHER measure of the failure of the education system of this country and the unions infesting it... like, say, in Tacoma, where teachers have again abandoned their students because their concern truly begins... and ends... with their own pay. 

So, if this isn't a time to "panic," I would ask whoever wrote this editorial through their fog of delusion....

When is?

We have a terrible dropout rate with terrible outcomes; we have horrific SAT results and thousands upon thousands of high school graduates who have to take remedial classes... all so they can attend community colleges, because the level of mastery of those mundane subjects like reading, writing and math were simply beyond them... and we do all that while paying more per student then almost anyone else... while many of those countries spending much less get much better outcomes... but...

It's not time to panic.

I say again: when is?