When the Voice news story appeared online (June 4) Web Link it promptly gathered reasoned critical comments about this group's opaque data and methodologies. Now we're also treated to a guest Op-Ed piece with more of the same.

School districts "stray from reliance on objective criteria" say the op-ed's authors -- who then won't reveal WHAT documents they "recently secured through the California Public Records Act" from local schools, nor HOW "our analysis shows" a pattern of holding back some students. They're criticized in the accompanying news story for not even contacting the MVLA district to discuss its data before resorting to Press Releases. Glib reference to the school district "just down the road from Google's headquarters" is knowingly misleading, since the authors certainly realize that Google recruits its skilled tech talent worldwide, and seldom directly from high school.

"Tightly controlling for subjective factors" is important not just in school placement practice, but also in a study, like this one, that purports to expose questionable school policies. If LCCR wants to demonstrate real school policy problems and not just toss out assertions, they'll lay open their data and "analysis" for all to see, rather than claiming in essence "trust us."