The time has come for an end to the excuses, for the sake of the system and the children trapped inside. In doing so, he put into place a district infrastructure that pushes teachers and principals to gain expertise for improving student performance in literacy and math. But his victories have come at a cost. To start with, gifted teachers and inspiring principals. But an exemplary school must also set great expectations-for instructors, students and parents.
Great schools ask everyone to stretch.
By continuously proposing and marketing quicker and better ways to improve schools, reformers increase the pressure to examine new initiatives while encouraging unrealistic public expectations for change. Americans aren't thinking a lot about the poor these days. Only one in ten Americans identifies poverty, welfare, or a similar social problem as one of the two top issues demanding government action. The report also found that approximately half of those surveyed felt that the poor are not doing enough to help themselves out of poverty, while the other half felt that poverty was attributable to circumstances beyond the control of individuals. In recent efforts to expand into new school districts, Edison has been newly forced to acknowledge that its schools cost districts considerably more to operate than do other district schools.