These things shouldn't be first. A principal told me on this particular day that what's first is to educate every child to the standard. Everything else is second. He seems to follow that rule more often than not, and it showed in his school. The Regents and I made a point of visiting the high performing schools schools performing beyond expectations and then talking to the press and the community about what's going on there.
Some people talk as if the standards are something to protect children from.
In these schools, however, people believe that high expectations together with the capacity to realize them are what protect children from a world that can be very harsh. We talk of the gaps in achievement that have been tolerated so long. These gaps are now challenged everywhere and particularly in the schools where performance is rising rapidly. The curriculum is balanced now . Let's make sure that we don't unbalance it with all the extra help added in.