At the Adderley School they have adopted the testing and targeting ethic with a vengeance, and meetings to set targets are a regular feature of school life - but even here there are worries about applying blanket standards to circumstances that can change.
We need citizens and parents to get involved, because nothing we do in school with make much of a difference unless we instill in our kids the self-confidence and the self-discipline and the work ethic that are at the heart of success not just in school but in life.
Today, YES serves students from the third grade through graduate school, though Eisner focuses on the pivotal upper-middle-school years: The kids are old enough for him to reliably evaluate their work ethic and their hunger for knowledge, but young enough that their minds are still growing rapidly.