MANY people detested No Child Left Behind (NCLB), but perhaps no group had more complaints than suburban school districts. NCLB required schools to make "adequate yearly progress"; those that did not, including some perfectly decent suburban schools, faced sanctions. Barack Obama's proposal to reauthorise NCLB would direct attention where it belongs: America's most troubled schools. Fifteen percent of America's high schools produce almost half of its dropouts. But it remains unclear whether Mr Obama's plans will lead those schools to success.The bottom five percent of schools in each state, based on test scores and graduation rates, would have to implement one of four "turnaround" models. This continues the aggressive agenda Mr Obama set forth last year.
Thanks to the Recovery Act, the education department has $3.5 billion(http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/12/12032009a.html) for states and districts that seek dramatic improvements for their worst schools. First, the school may replace its principal and at least half its staff. Second, the district may “restart” the school as a charter. Third, the district may close the school and move students elsewhere. Fourth, the school may replace the principal and adopt an array of other reforms, such as increasing learning time. Such efforts, the president hopes, would turn around America’s worst schools in five years...