4100 students can't be wrong...

...but it turns out Bill Gates can be.

So, did you notice anything missing from today's big New York Times article on the success of Brockton High?

• While it specifically cited the Gates foundation as being a big (former) funder of small schools,  it doesn't mention that Gates looked only at test scores, and that research has shown (see here and here, for example) other gains associated with small schools. Nor does it mention that the lack of gains on test scores that the Gates foundation found was already common knowledge in the educational research community before they started the small schools research!
• MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY, did you notice how the school went about improving? Did it fire the principal? Fire the teachers? Extend the school day? Bring in millions of dollars of extra funding? Have the administration create new high-powered committees to weigh in on what was needed?

Ah, no, actually. They gave the teachers the ability to fix it.

When a teacher noticed the problem and diagnosed it, she had the ability and the support (or at least, didn't face opposition) in creating a fix. The teachers created the committee. The teachers did the professional development. The teachers got each other on board, and helped each other as needed.

And the teachers raised the test scores.

Further (and more importantly, in my mind), they did it within the curriculum without turning the entire school into an MCAS-prep-lab.

SO, front page of the New York Times! The reporter missed the story...will everyone?