Samuel Betances, professor of education, Northeastern Illinois University, describes the challenge of teaching demanding new skills for all students. Excerpted from a presentation at NCREL's 1992 Academy for Urban School Leaders. (Audio file, 219k) A text transcript is available.
"For the first time in the history of the United States of America we've got to educate everybody. We've never had to do that before, and for the first time, we've got to take kids who are not academically proficient in the same classroom and in the same school with young people that are academically proficient. We got to give examinations to find out what people don't know, so that we can teach them what they don't know, rather than fail them for not knowing what they haven't been taught."