The tale of the pendulum and the bus.
For the first time ever, @the chalkface presents a children’s story.
There once was a shiny pendulum. It was a happy pendulum. Everyday it would swing one way and then swing back. Day after day the shiny pendulum would swing one way and then back. The pendulum was happy because it always knew that as soon as it would swing so far out one way it would ALWAYS reach a point a swing back. Over and over again. Back and forth. Consistent and predictable. Life was good for the shiny pendulum.
There once was a yellow school bus. Legend has it that a long time ago (11-12 years ago) it was happy. You see back then the bus and the pendulum had vey similar lives. The bus would pick up children in the morning, take them to schools, and then bring them home. Over and over again. Back and forth. Consistent and predictable.
However, one day while returning to the parking garage the bus picked up an efficiency expert. The expert insisted that the bus was performing “below basic” and was “failing.” According to the expert
There once was a shiny pendulum. It was a happy pendulum. Everyday it would swing one way and then swing back. Day after day the shiny pendulum would swing one way and then back. The pendulum was happy because it always knew that as soon as it would swing so far out one way it would ALWAYS reach a point a swing back. Over and over again. Back and forth. Consistent and predictable. Life was good for the shiny pendulum.
There once was a yellow school bus. Legend has it that a long time ago (11-12 years ago) it was happy. You see back then the bus and the pendulum had vey similar lives. The bus would pick up children in the morning, take them to schools, and then bring them home. Over and over again. Back and forth. Consistent and predictable.
However, one day while returning to the parking garage the bus picked up an efficiency expert. The expert insisted that the bus was performing “below basic” and was “failing.” According to the expert
The Lowest Expectation of Them All
Corporate education reformers love to rave about how schools that “beat the odds” are full of teachers with “high expectations”. There are echoes of George W’s “soft bigotry of low expectations” in this mantra implying that in the past, teachers–stifled no doubt by those innovation-hating unions–all had “low expectations” for their students and somehow THAT is why students from low-income backgrounds struggled in school. Regardless of the obstacles of poverty, homelessness, underfunding/lack of resources, large class sizes, mental health problems, special needs, or not yet knowing English, the rationale is that a teacher who just BELIEVES a child can graduate and go to college can make it happen (with a little grit and maybe a longer school day to boot. Oh, and don’t forget to hang up college banners in the hallways and talk about “college and career readiness” all the time.) This refrain is a constant in charter franchises, Teach for America circles, and the EdReform movement as a whole.
(From datboyct.deviantart.com )
Still, when you look at the schools supposedly “beating the odds” you begin to see another refrain besides the 
