Some of the high profile Success Academies seem to shine with their Common-Core aligned test scores. And on barely more than that, and ne'er an in-depth inquiry into attrition or the lack of space for the students with the greatest language or special needs, some would steamroll over the truly public schools. But what do you say when your students fail to make the grade for entrance into any one of the elite NYC public high schools last Spring?
Perhaps you gloss over it. Perhaps you hope no one finds out. Perhaps you charge foul play. Perhaps you contemplate buying a bus to Albany. Perhaps you wonder if the students have succumbed to public schoolitis. Perhaps you wonder if your teachers have become rotten apples. Perhaps you wonder whether a former NYC public-school teacher managed to sneak into your barrel and spoil it for you? Should your schools now be shuttered?
If truth be told, it's as simple as this: Your students prepped in overdrive for another test, the high stakes one critical to your survival and the proliferation of your species. Their gains are not reflected in other measures or, for that matter, probably much in life. You prepped your students to near perfection on a test that matters to you, not the one that might matter to only them.
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