I agree that the value-added data used in the LA Times article under discussion were of questionable reliability at least. Teachers should have their performance evaluated-accurately. I also agree that many public schools have failed their students miserably for decades and even that closing them down and looking at charter schools could be part of the solution. I also think we need to look at the way public schools are generally administered and funded in the US. They are usually paid for by local property taxes and controlled by a local school district. This has the predictable result of creating bad schools in some areas and good schools in others with a lot in between, even in the public system.
That said, schools in the areas where students have the lowest reading scores, etcetera, face lots of challenges schools in the suburbs do not. For example, principles of inner city schools spend more of their time worrying about whether students are bringing drugs or weapons to school. Another problem that public schools have (which private schools sometimes don't) is that they have to take every student and in some districts there are more children born with certain disabilities, etcetera. Long story short, the problems with American public education are complex and multi-faceted solutions are needed.