Under the Dome reports that the NC Center for Public Policy Research (NCCPRR) has recently won two awards from a coalition of like minded (leftist) think tanks called the Governmental Research Association (GRA) for a report it released recently criticizing charter schools.
Well, guess what? The head of the NCCPRR, Ran Coble, is also the President of the GRA.
So congratulations for giving yourself an award!
And to give yourself an award for a questionable study that ignored many of the unique qualities of charter schools is pretty ballsy as well. (For more on problems with the report, see this op-ed by Lindalyn Kakadelis that ran in the Charlotte Observer. See also this post by Max Borders).
Check your facts.
Facts checked: Ran Coble, President of the GRA. What is Chris missing here anonymous person?
http://graonline.org/
“President (2008) Ran Coble Executive Director North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research Raleigh, NC”
If it’s that he’s President elect rather than President, it’s hard to see which would be more suspicious – his getting the award first or the position first. The interesting question is: what is Coble’s current position with the GRA? If he’s not yet in the org, it could be kosher. Otherwise, looks like self-congratulation of the highest order.
Keep checking. You still have it wrong. When you make a personal attack on someone don’t expect favors.
I see. The org only gives this award to its members. Thus, its not so much self congratulation, as organizational incest hardly deserving of attention from the media.
Still, the anonymous commenter is right to point out Chris’s zeal with respect to the award. In light of the facts it looks like a personal attack. Whether Coble deserved the award is another question altogether… It was a politically motivated, bad analysis. But given the rules, it appears kosher.
(Chris, if there is a mess to clean, I’ll leave it to you.)
http://graonline.org/awards_letter_2007.pdf
I resent the implication that any of this is/was a personal attack.
Can anyone dispute the following facts?
Fact #1 – Ran Coble is Exec Director of the NCCRPP.
Fact #2 – NCCRPP won an award from GRA for a “study” of charter schools authored by Mr. Coble.
Fact #3 – Ran Coble is President of the GRA.
Mr. Coble was not on the selection committee for the award, but is it not somewhat fishy that the organization’s President wins an award for a questionable report that’s faults have been clearly pointed out (By Max’s and Lindalyn’s articles referenced above).
Perhaps the awarding of this honor on the report just points to a larger indictment of left-wing think tanks who huddle together and can only regurgitate the same tired public school protectionism without any new ideas on educational reform.