Update:
It *is* the Gates Foundation study. They are paying the teachers and achools to participate in the study and dictating no placement changes. They are also videotaping the children. You can opt out of being videotaped, but I think that means your child misses class on the days they videotape. You can't opt out of the study (and the placement restrictions) because they are claiming that the children aren't in the study, only the teachers.
Is it me or is this nuts? And kind of scary?
Sounds unethical to me. Who are the researchers involved in this?
I'd email up the chain of command.
You could also send a letter to the paper and try to find a high rank blogger who is locally connected.
Then there is the local press. This could be a pretty juicy story. I doubt any of the other parents know about this.
Bill Gates attended a school just for GT kids when he was growing up. He got a lot of pullouts and special programs including the use of public computing resources which he used to start his business. His mom did a lot of advocating for him.
