On the front page of today's Washington Post is a feel-good story about Ocean City Elementary, a Maryland school in which 100 percent of the students passed the state's math and reading tests. I don't want to rain on the school's parade (or give the Post reporter, Dan de Vise, a hard time for finding an excuse to mix business with pleasure (hmm... this school is at the beach... the article appeared just after Memorial Day Weekend...)) but isn't it worth pointing out (again) that when everyone can meet a standard, it means it's not really a "standard"? Perhaps this is a sign that Maryland should raise the passing scores on its tests? Can you imagine a front-page Washington Post story reporting that an entire high school student body got a perfect score on the SAT? Surely someone would question whether standards had slipped.
Still, I'm sure we're only days away from hearing Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings declare that "this school proves that 100 percent proficiency is an achievable goal." And with low enough standards, yes it is.
