[Diablo]

But the guys at Freakonomics beat me to it. My bet, having not clicked the link above, is the vast majority of the states in question have also adopted some form of teacher incentives. And guess what? They pay. So when you are a teacher who is faced with getting fired or transferred or getting a bonus to your $32,000 salary guess what you do? Help that dummy pass- or all 35 of the dummies.
Now, why are they so effin' dumb? Long list to be sure, but lets put multigenerational poverty, welfare as a way of life for your entire extended family, and no way out of your poor neighborhood that you have ever witnessed other than the one kid who got a scholarship for playing a sport at the top of the list. Then, and only after getting through 14 years in the above cluster____ do you arrive in my classroom. Then I am expected to turn you into a college ready student. At least with FID the curriculum is hands on for God's sake. So while I don't support these teachers, I can see them doing it. And with NCLB they will do it or be on the unemployment line with often few real skills and an English degree.
And yes, I live it daily. Urban school, 90% of my students are on welfare, get free lunch, and live in single parent families. And because I know you all will love this part: roughly 30% of my little darlings are "undocumented" aka illegals, but I can't say that at work either. Strangely the past 4 of 5 valedictorians have been "undocumented" so at least they see the value of education.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention my student who is 17, can't read, and is new to my class after 2 years of juvenile detention. His crime? Shooting at our local LEOs when they raided his dad's house for drugs.
Sorry, the bell just rang....
I teach Auto Shop and truly love my job. My students respect me and I them. Even when I don't agree with their often poor choices. My victories are small and few, but they matter.
Rant off