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Explain how incentives in this situation work . Teachers DO NOT have a say in who sits in the classroom . Experienced teachers usually get the cream of the crop and newbies get the problem children . Special education children are mainstreamed into the regular classroom usually in increased numbers to newer teachers .
All this does is become an incentive to "teach the tests ."
The MAIN reason children do not achieve in the classroom is a lack of discipline incorporated in the home .Parents always complain that the teacher is at fault if the children do not get their dose of A's and B's . All you have to do is ask them what the student is studying and you will find the majority of time they don't know.
Schools have to compete with video games, Ipods, TV (MTV,BET,VH1) and others including SEX at the middle school level .
Until parents lay down the law that school and LEARNING comes first the scores will continue to bottom out .BTW, dumbing down to the middle is rampant . Can't have some children achieving while others fail . Our high school even employed a rule of no grade lower than 50% no matter what the student does . In reality it means you get 50% of your grade for taking up space in the classroom .
The teachers also do not set the curriculum. That matter is determined by the board of education . There are many programs selected by boards that are not worth the paper they are printed on .
You also should know that in many schools " FAILURE" of a grade level is not an option. That would be too much of a negative impact on the self esteem of the student . They go to the next grade and then THAT teacher greets students who are 1-2 or even more years behind in achievement level .
AND IMHO most of the classified students DON'T have a learning disability. They need an old fashioned kick in the ass. That would give them incentive to achieve . I've seen it all teaching for a period of 35 years. I did not baby the students. I expected them to learn. When you get that message across all the pieces fall into place . You also have to have the guts to fight the administration which raises their eyebrows when you push students to learn .
I will be the first to agree there is dead wood in education . The truth is the numbers are very small that fall into that category .
The liberal learning institutions ( colleges ) are also a major part of the problem . New graduates want to be friends with the students . They want to teach the humanistic methods and not hurt their self esteem . Unfortunately in a dog eat dog REAL world they send the students who graduate into the workplace jungle unprepared for employment .
Many who think teachers are overpaid will go ballistic when they find out that they will be paid more for student achievement levels rising .

Teachers DO NOT have a say in who sits in the classroom . Experienced teachers usually get the cream of the crop and newbies get the problem children . Special education children are mainstreamed into the regular classroom usually in increased numbers to newer teachers .

Very true. I also liked what you said about having to fight administration. Who knew how totally useless and clueless many school administrators could be? And how little they care about teachers? I had no idea. I wish I had known that, and a few other things, before I became a teacher.