Thank you for this excellent post, Val.

There are both passive and active means of capping growth/achievement at the top.

Originally Posted by Val
I've been in education grant review sessions and in meetings where educators explicitly stated that they were "closing achievement gaps" by focusing on poor performers and ignoring high achievers. The high achievers were viewed as "already proficient" and therefore not in need of more instruction --- even if this meant that they spent an entire semester or year learning nothing. Their pre- and post-tests showed that they'd been ignored. The scores were essentially the same. This was defined as "closing the achievement gap." It was really "ignoring the most capable students."

Educators see this as "focusing on the ones who need help" but they're failing to see that all their students "need help." Some just need it at a higher level. A student has a right to an education. A school doesn't have a right to ignore him because he's smart.
This is a great description of passive means to cap growth/achievement at the top.

In my posts, I've described active means of capping growth/achievement at the top.

Originally Posted by Val
They help create a situation and then dump on students over it. Typical of short-sighted edumacation-think.
Yes, unfortunately. This seems to be an educational version of Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP)... a form of abuse.