JLF Education Policy Analyst Terry Stoops has a must-read post in The Locker Room about the deplorable new statewide reading test scores.

To anyone who follows public education, it’s no surprise education officials put the blame on a harder test. Sure, that’s a factor, but officials continue to refuse to acknowledge the elephant in the room. While some schools certainly do a good job of serving some students, a monopoly system cannot and will not serve all of its students.

It’s not about money. This state has infused the public system with massive amounts of dollars for years. Teacher compensation is above the national average. There are at least a dozen different types of “coaches” working in the system — many of them to help teachers be better teachers. There are even coaches for the coaches and school transformation coaches.

Despite it all, progress is limited. The big losers are kids from families with moderate or low incomes. They don’t have the means to opt out and find a school that better serves them. They’re trapped. Those with more money will always be able to wave goodbye and find a better return on investment for their education dollars.

This story is really about the lack of competition in public schools. Just look to the News & Observer story about the lack of accountability schools face in light of this huge drop in reading scores:

Though the results won’t affect individual students or cause teachers to lose bonus money, the sharp declines will give school districts a jolt.

It is likely that fewer schools will meet progress goals under the federal No Child Left Behind law and that fewer schools will be able to crow about state honors based on high test scores.

A massive drop in reading scores and “teachers won’t lose money”? In other words, everyone will wring their hands and hold meetings, but in the final analysis, oh well.

On November 1, individual district and school scores will be released and we’ll see how things look in the Triangle. Here’s what News & Observer education reporter T. Keung Hui has to say about Wake County in his blog post (emphasis is mine):

Wake school officials say they don’t expect any additional Title I schools to be required to provide transfer choices due to the reading scores. But a lot more schools will not meet NCLB standards. It was already down to 24 percent, based just on math. How much lower will it go?