While we know good teachers and accountability are important, it’s very difficult to properly assess quality, especially in a large district with a varied population.

Second, it’s always going to be hard to close failing schools so we need to make strong efforts at fixing them first. While everybody wants to close disastrous schools, stakeholders are very resistant to closing their failing school. Kids, parents and teachers usually want to keep the local school running no matter what. Reformers need to recognize that it will always be harder to close a failing school than a failing laundromat. We need much stronger support systems for troubled schools and I worry that important aspect of reform is being neglected.