Advertisement

Betsy DeVos responds to embarrassing 60 Minutes interview with self-own on Twitter

The education secretary only made things worse.

CREDIT: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
CREDIT: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

On the heels of 60 Minutes performance so bad it reportedly alarmed White House officials, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took to Twitter to try to defend herself.

“Here’s what we shared with 60 Minutes, which of course they didn’t show you: Michigan, like much of the nation, isn’t doing well enough to prepare students. Scores are stagnant. Students need more options, and we must rethink our approach to education,” DeVos tweeted.

Advertisement

There’s just one problem. The question DeVos struggled to answer on 60 Minutes is about why Michigan schools are struggling, not if they’re struggling. A variety of recent studies have shown school in Michigan lagging behind in a a number of educational measures, so that much isn’t in doubt. And that’s problematic for DeVos because she’s been active in pushing reform efforts tilted toward charter and private schools there for decades, so the state serves as a model of the sort of educational system DeVos is working toward nationwide.

DeVos followed up with a second tweet about how students at charter schools in Detroit are doing better than their peers at public schools in the city.

But what DeVos didn’t mention is that the Michigan Radio article she linked to is headlined, “Test scores at Detroit charter schools twice as high as city’s public schools, but both are bad.” DeVos is also cherry-picking — as the Washington Post has noted, she has “been a force behind the spread of charter schools in Michigan, most of which have recorded student test scores in reading and math below the state average.”