Ms. Reyes has some great ideas. However, as an alumna of the exam schools, I would hesitate to get rid of them. The exam schools offers the best and brightest of Boston a chance to be the one thing they can't be in a regular public school --themselves. What I mean by this is that I've seen bright students in my classroom constantly scorned by their less academically-minded classmates. It's heartbreaking and unfair. For part of this year, I worked at an organization called Steppingstone and it was a breath of fresh air. The students in the program, which prepares them for exam and private schools, could be themselves. In the classes I taught, students listened to each other, made relevant comments, and didn't ridicule each other about their intelligence. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Students were free to display their knowledge as much as possible and the program encourages students to do so. In my classroom, I spend too much time protecting these kinds of students from bullies and jealous classmates. Often, these students eventually transfer schools or leave at the end of the year for exam and/or private schools. If we want to make public schools better, we need to acknowledge the anti intellectual culture in the schools. High performing students are often ignored because they generally don't have behavioral issues. Too much time is spent on discipline. High performing students are placed in classes where students are 2 to 3 grade levels behind them. I often see the frustration on high achieving students faces when we have to do a lesson on content that should have been mastered in elementary school. These students want and deserve more from schools. The exam schools offer an oasis for these students. We need the exam schools now more than ever.