Why Poor Schools Can’t Win at Standardized Testing

The Atlantic Article that Should Have Been Called “Why Poor Students Should Not Have to Attend Dysfunctional School Districts”

July 16, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

A fascinating article in the Atlantic about the lack of textbooks in Philadelphia district schools would have been even more illuminating if the author had discovered that the district spends $20k per student per year.

The blindingly obvious conclusion to draw from this article is that plenty of money exists to get these students all the textbooks they need, but that the district simply has other priorities. The district spends the money, they just spend it on something or someone else, and mysteriously classroom learning never makes to the top of a priority list. These are not “poor schools” but rather wealthy schools that are poorly run and victimizing poor students in the process.