As promised, here’s a look at what those state “turnaround teams” Judge Howard Manning dispatched to low-performing CMS high schools actually did the past few days.

First, it is worth noting that the schools spent a solid week getting ready for the teams, with some teachers coming in over the weekend for last minute prep. It turned out that the teams were not interested in the entire schools, and zeroed in on the classes and departments that had end-of-course tests. That tells you something right there — the goal is to get those scores up, period.

Even more interesting is how the teams reacted to what they saw at CMS. Teachers sensed that some team members seemed shocked at how organized and prepared class-room teachers were; that these turnaround teams were used to going into schools and districts with really weak teachers and coaching them up during their little three-day visits. Not so much with some low-performing CMS schools. One would-be turnarounder reportedly said, “I don’t even know what I’m doing here. You are doing things I need to take back with me and share.”

Still, that did not prevent interviews with students that seemed to be fishing for criticism of teachers and teaching methods. It will be interesting to see exactly what Judge Manning gets told via this process.

We seem to be running out of ways to deny the obvious. The More Money fix for low-performance no longer is taken seriously by anyone not in the employ of CMS, and I frankly doubt it is really believed down at the Ed Center either. We know Judge Manning does not believe it. We are currently stuck on the Better Teachers fix as it has been easy for CMS to blame teachers for the short-comings of the entire district. That is what CMS did, to its eternal shame, when Manning asked in open court what CMS’ problem was. “The teachers!” CMS brass shrieked.

So here come the turnaround teams this week to find out — well, no, the teachers in many cases are very good and hard-working. If they actually report that, instead of hiding that crucial info in educratese suggestions for improvement, Charlotte might begin to confront the painful truth that subpar high school test scores sometimes are the product of subpar high school students.