On Tuesday, the board passed a revised strategic plan that says that by 2018, it wants 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of black students to be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are 92 percent of Asian kids to be proficient, whites at 86 percent, Hispanics at 80 percent and blacks at 74 percent. It also measures by other groupings, such as poverty and disabilities.Commenting on this story for American Thinker, Thomas Lifson notes that it comes about in part as teachers complain about being held to the same standards for educating students from vastly different backgrounds. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.
I remember a line attributed to speechwriter Michael Gerson and delivered by President George W. Bush that describes this action:
The soft bigotry of low expectations.
