But the reality is that most kids just aren't smart enough for a school like the old Thomas Jefferson. Changing the entry requirements won't change this. As I mentioned, IMO, the best way to help disadvantaged kids would be to give them free nutritious food at school twice a day starting in kindergarten. Ensuring that they have highly capable teachers would also go a long way, but the unions won't allow it.
Where is the assumption that the new admission requirements are leading to students who are less smart? My understanding is that there are thousands of students in the cachement area who are more than qualified for admissions.
While I applaud efforts to increase the quality of school lunch programs, I really don't think that it is the surefire way to improving student achievement. Similarly, in Virginia, there are no collectively bargained union contracts, so blaming this on "the union" is an irrelevant argument.
I do think that improving math and science instruction for all students starting in kindergarten is a good first step. My understanding is that Fairfax County has a fair amount of tracking occurring under the guise of "gifted services" that may very well prevent such high-quality instruction from filtering down to the masses.
