Jay Mathews is a superb education journalist with a particular passion for the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs. He regularly scrutinizes them and their workings (and any studies, commentaries, etc. about them) with the care that an expert gastroenterologist brings to a colonoscopy. It was no big surprise, then, that he opted this week to focus overmuch on a single polyp associated with a recent Fordham report on AP and IB: the sourish behavior of one outside scholar who contributed good work to that project but, in the end, refused to make his contribution concise and reader-friendly. Having insisted that his name be removed as author of our AP-IB math reviews, said scholar subsequently decided both that he wanted the world to see his original reviews (certainly his right) and that Mathews (and the blogosphere) should be directed to this tiny tempest in a wee teapot. If you're not already nodding off, you can find more at the links below.
"Professor Says Editors Altered Review of AP, IB Courses," by Jay Mathews, Washington Post, November 27, 2007
"The Secret Gripes of Professor Klein: An AP-IB Drama," by Jay Mathews, Washington Post blog, November 27, 2007