June 2, 2009 8:33AM # Parents Fact Check Ed. Secretary. MSM AWOL By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) --- SHARE Caroline Grannan, erstwhile editor at the *San Jose Mercury News*, just posted [a fact check of a recent speech by Ed. Secretary Arne Duncan](http://www.examiner.com/x-356-SF-Education-Examiner~y2009m6d1-Arne-Duncan-misstates-Chicago-results-watchdog-barks-a-warning). The fact checking was actually done by Chicago watchdog group Parents United for Responsible Education, and Grannan laments her former media colleagues’ “unwillingness to question claims like Duncan’s.” [You and me both](https://www.cato.org/2009/03/11/where-are-the-muckrakers/), Ms. Grannan. According to PURE, Duncan claimed that a startling turnaround at one Chicago public school was achieved after its original students returned following a major restructuring. Citing Chicago Public Schools’ own data, PURE claims only 12 of the original students actually returned (more details in [an earlier letter cited here](http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2008/12/arne-duncan-and-chicago-turnaround.html)). That’s an interesting model for school improvement… ditch the low performing kids. Not sure that could be brought to scale. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).