The Times Shows its Stripes

KDeRosa at Kitchen Table Math, the Sequel correctly points out that an ugly baby should be called an ugly baby, just as failing schools should be called "failures" despite what this article in the NY Times says.

The editorial is pretty forgettable, but I did notice one thing. While I am always skeptical of claims of liberal bias in the MSM, one part of the article did catch my eye.

The value of the standards movement itself was underscored this year in an analysis that was part of Education Week magazine’s annual survey of student achievement. Analyzing student performance between 1992 and 2005, the study found clear signs of progress, especially in fourth-grade math performance, which had gone up nearly two grade levels since 1992. Black and Hispanic students, by the way, showed larger gains than their white counterparts over that same period. Had the scores of white students not risen at all, the progress by black and Hispanic students would have substantially erased the white-minority achievement gap.

Does anyone else detect a bit of sour grapes here. Damn those pesky white students for improving their test scores.