The Wayne Township story (reminiscent of the good ole deals that NFL franchises & teams used to make) has found it’s way to Drudge:
http://www.indystar.com/comments/article/20110128/LOCAL1804/101280341/Wayne-superintendent-s-1M-retirement-package-creates-storm

It appears on the recent evidence that the more kids are exposed to what is done in your preferred school the worst they perform on ISTEP. But, ISTEP is a political tool as you use it-what does it measure? Are you tiny hands clapping because 70.8% of 8th graders passed ISTEP? The teacher recommendations for cut scores on the 8th grade ISTEP were lowered by politicians to come up with a political result which you, believer in myths, believe (as directed). How do you think your 8th graders would do on NAEP? Or, put another way, do you know of any school in Indiana that does better on NAEP than it does on ISTEP? Of course you don’t. Has the cognitive dissonance sank in yet or are you just a slow learner?
Of the 8th graders 29.2% failed ISTEP at your preferred school. When you went to some so called college, what grade did you acquire with 70% correct answers? And, what about these 30%? Well, one cannot have standards without standard conditions, can one? There is an IQ test embedded in the ISTEP-not useful for individuals but accurate for groups. My guess is that the 30% failures don’t have the average IQ of the 70% passers…which has nothing to do with the quality of the teachers or administrators. The 30% are what causes schools to be labeled. But, it isn’t fair or accurate to do so. Other than the above, the declines in SAT scores reflect inadequate performance by the upper 10% or so. Why is this important? As schools are dumbed down the smarter kids can coast…the smarter kids are the utility of the system. They are the ones who we ride to progress-they lead the parade.
So, let’s see how Super Bennett’s growth plan will work for them and for the 30%. Great numbers of the 30% are not going to grow much, ever. An academic track for them is unfair, expensive, and useless except for politicians. The upper 10% have plenty of room to grow their performance but are denied the resources peculiar to their needs,and so, will continue to coast. Government schools, tied into knots by unproductive rules will continue to be dumping grounds for disabled, untalented academic sorts, and kids whose parents (if they have them) don’t care. Be that as it may, you were not discussing the school as it is today but as it was historically, in 2002. Calling up that data will take a bit of time. But, it will be useful to use the capacity measurement which allows school comparisions and levels the playing field by establishing via multiple regression analysis…standard conditions…at least more standard than your old league of 50 lies.