http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/05/23/38596-report-dps-must-set-higher-goals
It's important to have goals, and it's best if those goals exceed a mere "expectation" (something you'd expect to achieve without extra effort) yet fall short of something so lofty there's little to no chance of achieving them. In other words, goals need to be reasonable.Denver Public Schools has recently been advised by advocacy groups that they need to set higher goals. Some of these goals might be reasonable, but there's something else we need to consider when it comes to goals: If you are trying yet unable to meet a lower goal, simply raising the goal probably won't fix anything.
We see this with education standards all the time. If the headline says, "Only 40% of students are proficient on math standards," the answer seems to be, "We need higher standards!" Wait...how is that supposed to help the 60% that weren't meeting the lower standards? If you're not willing to squarely focus on why goals are met and not met, moving goals around is of little relevance.