Originally Posted by master of none
the problem as I see it is that nobody cares about the top.

I think that's it exactly. There's probably an assumption among many educators (I've certainly heard it) that the higher achievers and/or brighter students are okay because they're already passing the test. NCLB and its onerous conditions don't help.

It would help if educators in general were smarter. Schools are an environment with a high focus on cognitive activities. In this kind of environment, smarter people understand the needs of other smarter people in a way that others just don't.