The easy half of the Gore plan the teams of experienced educators with extra money is inspired by North Carolina, which has brought great improvement to some low-performing schools. But once the teams leave, some schools have fallen back onto the failing list. The second half of Gore's plan, reconstitution, has been called the neutron bomb of school reform, and most states, including North Carolina, have been too skittish to try it. In one year, math scores on the state exam jumped 15 percent and reading scores 8.5 percent. But such radical change is difficult to pull off.
Unions fight layoffs.
And it isn't easy to find good replacements. In 1997 Denver restaffed two elementary schools, but test scores have barely changed. These mixed results, however, are unlikely to quell the public demand for reform. No matter who wins, our new superintendent in chief will use that 7 percent of education dollars for as much leverage as he can get.