Beltway Blues: 'Conservative' School Reformers Hate the Tea Party

The Fordham Institute highlighted its conference on "The Other Achievement Gap" Monday with the question: "Do high flyers maintain their altitude?"

The answer, in brief, is no. Two out of five high academic achievers drop out of the elite ranks, researchers found. Yet Fordham also determined that rising "late bloomers" more than make up the difference, replenishing the ranks, and then some.

Still, other questions remain: Why do high achievers fail? And what can be done to prevent attrition?

With evermore money spent on lifting the lowest achievers, educational researchers contended that the "talented tenth" deserve commensurate study and attention.

In making that argument, these researchers -- ostensible conservatives focused like lasers on rigorous accountability and merit-based pay programs -- just couldn't resist taking a parting shot at the tea party movement, which, they contended, "doesn't want any measurements at all."

If these Washington, D.C.-based thinkers had included the qualifier "federal" in their description, they might have been truly "right."

Fordham's study can be viewed here.