Posted by johngslater, a resident of the Menlo Park: Menlo Oaks neighborhood, on Mar 19, 2012 at 2:27 pm

Its easy to close an achievement gap: divert resources from students do better. Basically, your investment strategy is to get the lowest ROI.

Posted by Clarification, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Mar 19, 2012 at 9:02 pm

I want to make sure I understand what Mr.Slater is saying because there is a word or two missing. If the comment is that by "diverting" resources from the higher performing students to the ones who need more help the school district will be getting a lower return on investment -- in other words, wasting money -- then he couldn't be more wrong. Over 80% of the prison population has learning disabilities. So, would you rather pay now to educate those kids who need help, or let them sink and then pay many multiples more for their eventual incarceration or government assistance? I'll tell you the best ROI -- make sure our education tax dollars are being used to give all kids a fighting chance. That doesn't take anything away from the high-performing kids -- believe me, they will do just fine and as a matter of fact they will benefit from being part of a diverse learning community that mirrors the real world. By making the playing field even we ensure that as a society all our citizens are capable of being productive and making a valuable contribution. We can all learn from each other -- it's not only Rhodes Scholars who make a difference in the world.