And while you're reading T&G columns

...do read Clive today on levels, charter schools, and MCAS:

There is nothing wrong in expecting more from schools with otherwise reasonably good academic track records, and if the MCAS were being used to help these schools get even better, no one would be complaining. 

But that is not what is happening here. Instead, the MCAS is being used to demonize rather than to improve traditional public education.