More with less

Juxtaposition of the day. First, a report from Indianapolis:

More than 1,000 teachers, waving signs with slogans such as "Save Public Schools" and wearing "Respect Educators" stickers, packed the marble hallways of the Indiana Statehouse on Tuesday.

They converged from across the state to tell Gov. Mitch Daniels and lawmakers in the General Assembly that they want what's best for Hoosier children, and they see more harm than good in the sweeping education reforms that Daniels, state schools Superintendent Tony Bennett and Republican lawmakers are pushing this year.

And a reminder of a study:

Earlier this month, President Obama challenged high schools across the county to compete against each other in the second annual "Race to the Top” educational success program for the chance to have him give the commencement address at their graduation. Not included in the contest, though, are the more than 2 million students in America's Catholic schools.

If they could participate, the nation's parochial schools would be fearsome competitors.
A 2009 comparison between public and Catholic school SAT scores show that public school students had an overall average of 496 points on the critical reading portion of the test while Catholic school students scored 533 points on the same portion. Catholic school students outscored their public school counterparts by an average of 23 points.

What makes the numbers more impressive is that Catholic high schools spend more than $2,000 less per pupil than public schools.

If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting, as the cliche goes. And if you kep denying what you've been doing, you'll keep ignoring what you've been getting.