School closings, the new face of reform

As school districts struggle with state budget shortfalls, school closings and mass teacher firings have become the new face of school reform. Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, where an entire faculty and staff were fired, became the poster child for Arne Duncan's so-called Race to the Top, complete with threats to school districts nationwide that only compliance could save them from de-funding.

The latest to comply is Oklahoma City where the school board plans to RIF 75 of 155 teachers at U.S. Grant High School strictly on the basis of flat student standardized test scores.

From NewsOK:  

The reform plan would remove half the staff and the principal if the principal had been there for more than two years. Under the same federal guidelines — and in pursuit of the same grant dollars — a school board in Rhode Island last month announced that every teacher at the failing Central Falls High School would be fired, causing the community to protest.