What you say about students of exceptional potential in urban (and rural) districts is absolutely correct (I assume you are using "urban" as a synonym for "black", it's still right).
Rather than "try to provide a good education for everyone" (given that everyone does not agree on the meaning of "a good education", not to mention that a good education for someone with an IQ of 80 is not the same as a good education for someone with an IQ of 120), shouldn't we try very hard to find the exceptional students in "urban" districts and get them the hell out of there before they are ruined?
The new policy of administering competency tests in algebra to schools with average IQs in the 70s and 80s, and then pronouncing them "failing" when the result is inevitable is grotesque and cruel.
Unfortunately, my school can top that one.
Because of the NCLB 95% of all student populations MUST take some sort of standardized tests to measure growth and progress. MUST TAKE THEM!! That incluces the special education students. In the school at which I teach we have 80 special ed students. 60 are LD/OHI, 10 are TMR (IQ's below 60) 5 are Autistic/TMR/Downs (all 5 have some combination of those three mentioned) 3 are EMR (IQ's below 80) and 2 are S/P (IQ's below 45)
Even though the LD kids had a phenomenal pass rate on the Reading--58 passed out of 60 on their given tests (Stanford, ITBS, SOL's, one or more of the above)and over 95% of the standard population passed their given tests (same tests as mentioned above), our school is considered a failing school. Why? Because of NCLB we could only exempt about 3 of the special ed students. Of the 20 non LD/OHI kids, 1 EMR student passed one of the reading tests. All else failed.
Regardles of the work done with the entire population, we are now labeled a failing school.
Someone out there wiser than I, please tell me how we can get a child with massive disabilities to pass ANY grade level test. BTW, Algebra is an especially low one. I'd love to hear guidance for that test.