http://www.ascd.org/publications/ed_...2/scherer.html
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The problem is not that we don't know what works. The problem is that we are not willing to pay the bill to provide the things that work for the poorest children in America. And we have not been willing for many, many years. After all, if poor black parents on the South Side of Chicago want to know what works, they really don't need a $2 million grant from Exxon to set up another network of essential schools. All they need to do is to take a bus trip out to a high school in Wilmette and see what money pays for. All they need to do is go out and see schools where there are 16 children in a class with one very experienced teacher. All they need to do is visit a school with 200 IBMs; a school where the roof doesn't leak; a school that is surrounded by green lawns, where the architecture and atmosphere of the school entice people to feel welcome; a school in which the prosperity of the school creates the relaxed atmosphere in which the teachers feel free to innovate, which they seldom do under the conditions of filth and desperation.
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Shorter: Money Matters.
Government needs to start paying for what it promises, Like fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The program was meant to help school districts meet legal obligations to educate children with disabilities and to pay part of the extra expense to do so. Congress was going to fund 40%, they only ever funded 20% of the program. They let the state pick up the rest of the tab. Consequence? The rest of the kids, the ones who are at a normal education level, they suffer.