A low- wealth school district with large concentrations of minority students should be concerned with basic skill development. And no district is so well off that it will be problem free. Indeed, that is the most important lesson that a standards-driven system has to offer. There is no finish line. Getting better in one year should be an incentive to get even better the next.
Perfection is an endlessly retreating goal, just out of grasp.
Thus, Montgomery County Md., one of the nation s premier school districts, is typically compared to Washington, D.C., one of the nation s most troubled districts. If such a comparison is designed to make Montgomery County residents feel better, it is a fool s paradise. Their competition is with Tokyo s and Bonn s best schools, not low-achieving schools at home. If such a comparison is used constructively, to help District of Columbia schools, teachers and students do better, it can be worthwhile. But the comparisons cannot be broad brush, district to district.