Reply #83: If things get better

[sulphurdunn]

it won't be because any research exists that supports this PLAN anymore than there exists empirical data to equate teacher performance or student learning with standardized test scores. Race to the trough money is a political bribe to aid and abet the privatization of public education, primarily in states with high urban poverty rates. Tennessee ranks 12th worst nationally for child poverty and your neighbor Virginia ranks 47th. Virginia has pretty much taken a pass on RTTT bribes. This is no accident. How poverty and state spending rank as an indicator of school achievement and correlates positively with every other data profile is something you should research before climbing aboard this bandwagon. Facts do matter. I apologize for that snarky quote from Mencken.