Outstanding teachers may push mediocre students to undreamed of heights, but they control neither their raw material nor the educational environment of their school. A superb teacher stuck with craven administrators, a lousy curriculum, irresponsible colleagues, and impulsive students may find his best efforts washed away on a tide of disorderly conduct. At the other extreme, excellent students often perform superbly in spite of rotten conditions. If performance means scores on standardized tests, as is usually the case, rational teachers will do two things. They will teach to the test and they will lobby to ensure that performance goals are low.
Standardized tests have their uses, but they remain incomplete measures of performance.
Teaching to the test could well produce a new low in student writing. Back in the dark ages when school actually turned out educated students, teaching was a profession and individual performance mattered. From there, the head of the school either renewed their contract or not. In a suitably sized school, this is not hard to do. When an Algebra I teacher does a consistently good job of turning out well-prepared students, the Algebra II teachers will know.