Countries - Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium and plenty of others - look at the results of the international competitions among countries, then look at their per child funding. Consistently better results would be rankings in international exams, literacy rate, and the like.
Sorry, I used that term very loosely. "Emphasizing" and acting consistently to suport are probably better ways to describe what I meant.
Obviously, they hire teachers who teach, be they NEA types (whatever that is) or some other type. The military school districts have the same curriculum as the rest of the public schools in the State. They are all subject to the same testing and the same oversight performed by the Texas Education Agency.
NEA - National Education Association - predominant teacher's union in the USA, also well-known for its militant socialism.
The articles did not mention the curriculum specifically. I know here in PA the school districts are free to use any curriculum they choose, so I cannot make the assumption, as you did, that the curriculum is exactly the same in all school districts. Maybe you have evidence otherwise - I don't.
So, I say again, the teachers in the military school must be teaching something more worthwhile, and teaching it better, than the schools that are failing.
Schools in those districts continue to rack up national and state recognitions for excellence. And their students — who graduate and go to college at higher-than-average rates — are regularly among the city's top performers in state, federal and college entrance exams.
We all know that state exams are not rigorous - there's been a lot of press in particular about the problems with the exams in Texas. Additionally, the SATs have been consistently dumbed-down over the years, most recently this year, so they may be performing well at a level relative to this dumbed-down yardstick.
Read this: http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/texmath.htm
Before we congratulate any school for achieving "excellence", we should first determine whether "excellence" was really achieved.
Interesting post.
Before I go to all the trouble of following your kind suggestions, are there any American public schools which you recognize as excellent? Which and why, please?