Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) at ASU
Education and the Public Interest Center (EPIC) at CU-Boulder

****NEWS RELEASE--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE****

BUNKUM AWARDS FOR SHODDY EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ANNOUNCED TODAY

Contact: Prof. Kevin Welner, Co-director of the Think Tank Review Project
(303) 492-8370; [kevin.welner@gmail.com]

TEMPE, Ariz and BOULDER, Colo. (February 21, 2008) - The Think Tank Review Project, a collaboration of the University of Colorado at Boulder's Education and the Public Interest Center and the Arizona State University's Education Policy Research Unit, announced today the award of six "Bunkums" for shoddy research, given to five private think tanks. These awards are the subject of a commentary published in the current edition of the publication Education Week entitled, "The Privatization Infatuation."

The big winner for 2007 reports is the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation, which walked off with three virtual statuettes. Project co-director Alex Molnar (ASU) said, "it was a challenge to single out the worst among the 18 reports by 11 different think tanks reviewed in 2007."

The Think Tank Review Project invites independent experts to review think tank reports. Reviewers are asked to apply to the reports the same academic peer review standards used by scholarly publications. Expert reviewers for the Project assess think tank reports for the validity of assumptions, methodology, results, and the strength of links between results and policy recommendations. The reviews, written in non-academic language, are intended to help policy makers, reporters, and others judge the merits of the reviewed reports.

This year's grand prize, the Caveat Emptor Award, was given to the Friedman Foundation for its impressive body of shoddy work. For instance, a May 2007 Friedman report trumpeted its finding that the nation's "twelve [voucher] programs have saved a total of nearly half a billion dollars." Our reviewer pointed out several faults with the calculations and contentions. And, even if the report's flawed calculations were accepted, the reviewer noted that a savings of a half-billion dollars was "a savings of less than 1/100th of one percent of annual public school spending, or about 60 cents per child per year." For this, Friedman also deserves the 60 Cent Solution Award.

Similarly, a September 2007 Friedman handbook, entitled, The ABC's of School Choice, was one of the year's most comprehensively misleading think tank publications. Our reviewer concluded, "evidence -- particularly on the issue of achievement -- is consistently abused in this report, both by misrepresenting individual studies (including those by voucher advocates) and misrepresenting the general body of research on choice."

Unquestioned faith that privatization in one form or another will solve educational problems was a pervasive think tank theme throughout 2007. Our reviewers of reports from the Cato Institute and from the American Legislative Exchange Council both found very large inferential leaps, starting from the limited evidence presented yet ending up with "blanket support of market remedies." These reports received the Inferential Long Jump Award.

To read more about these and three additional awards -- the With Friends Like These Award (given to Ohio's Buckeye Institute), the Who Reads Warning Labels? Award (given to the Manhattan Institute), and the Chutzpah Award (given to the Friedman Foundation) -- please visit the Bunkum website at http://epsl.asu.edu/epru/epru_2007_bunkum.htm. The Education Week commentary is also posted at this Bunkum website and is available to Ed Week subscribers at http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/02/20/24welner.h27.html

About the Bunkum Awards

The term 'bunkum,' meaning essentially 'nonsense,' came about because of a long-winded and pointless speech given in 1820 on the House floor by Congressman Felix Walker of Buncombe County, North Carolina. The Bunkum Awards help to highlight nonsensical, confusing, and disingenuous reports produced by education think tanks.

CONTACT:

Kevin Welner, Professor and Director
Education and the Public Interest Center
University of Colorado at Boulder
(303) 492-8370
kevin.welner@gmail.com

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