This just in from a teacher in Boston, in response to this post about teachers at “no excuses” schools:

Check out the number of special education students and limited English speakers in Boston Public Schools compared to these charter schools where genius teachers from fancy universities are such a great success. BPS has 18.3% special education and 30% limited English speakers. The Edward Brooke has 7.4% special education students and .2% limited English speakers. The Edward Brooke, which is scary with their extreme military style discipline, has the lowest percentage of pesky resistant learners at the charters mentioned in this article. I can tell you after five years of teaching at a Boston charter that these schools are nothing more than test prep factories. I wonder how well these no-excuse reformers would do with special education students, kids who can’t speak English while planning creative, hands-on experiences in a democratically run class room.