Keepers of the ratings. Commissioner of Education Rick Mills has explained repeatedly that the System for Accountability for Student Success is not intended to be used to compare districts but to track the progress of individual schools and districts. By all means. But let's not be distracted. The main focus of the public schools has always been and must remain academic achievement.
Schools assume, or are assigned, many other responsibilities.
But all are not equally urgent. Priority must be given to those responsibilities that contribute most directly to the central mission. One of the things I admire about Mills is the single-mindedness with which he has pursued this goal of raising the achievement standards. The message grows a little tedious for those hearing it for the sixth time, but Mills understands that repetition of the message is essential to any successful marketing effort. He and the Board of Regents brought together all the major elements of the education community as well as a smattering of outsider analysts at a forum in November on New York's progress in implementing the higher standards.