De Blasio’s education mission creep: Excellence risks coming a distant second to equity

The New York Daily News reports:

In 1963, the rough beginning of our national experiment in teaching self-love, there also commenced an uninterrupted 18-year slide in SAT scores. But in that same period, the contingent of college-bound seniors who boasted an A or B average jumped from 28% to an astonishing 83%, as teachers systemwide felt increasing pressure to adopt more “supportive” grading policies.

Tellingly, in a 1989 study of comparative math skills among students in eight nations, Americans ranked lowest in overall competency, Koreans highest — but when researchers asked the students how good they thought they were at math, Americans placed highest, Koreans lowest. Meanwhile, 1999′s Third International Mathematics and Science Study, ranking twelfth-graders from 23 nations, put U.S. students in 20th place, besting only such historic hotbeds of innovation as South Africa, Lithuania and Cyprus. Such are the unintended consequences of taking your eyes off the prize, which should be educational excellence — that is, challenging all students, especially the best and brightest, to perform optimally.

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