In Troubled Schools, Policy and Reality Collide

By Beth Reinhard

San Diego

It takes 3rd grader Yancey Smith a couple of minutes to recall all of his old schools. He's been to four different ones in as many years.

Susana Rodriguez, a 4th grader, counts on a classmate to help her follow what's happening in class because she understands little English and receives instruction from a bilingual teacher only 45 minutes a day. Two teachers are out on "stress disability," partly from working in such a poor, crime-ridden neighborhood.

These images from a single afternoon at Jefferson Elementary School suggest the tall hurdles that make tightening accountability far easier said than done, particularly...