Teachers are struggling to give students a useful education. Mandates that require a blinded focus on paper tests and meaningless quotas destroy the ability of Educators to adjust their methods for struggling students. Test Score quotas force teachers to use cookie cutter methods in the "Teach to Test" policy. This policy has lead to school administration trying to force out students who don't test well to inflate averages.
We can end this downward spiral by pooling and dividing the educational finances across states so poorer neighborhoods have equal educational opportunity. And removing the mandated test scoring system.