About 25 years ago, The Washington Post carried an item on Algebra I grades in the high schools of Montgomery County, Maryland. In the west of the county, one n

About 25 years ago, The Washington Post carried an item on Algebra I grades in the high schools of Montgomery County, Maryland. In the west of the county, one needed to score at or above 90% to get an A in Algebra. Mid-county the cutoff for an A was in the mid-70s. Assigning the kids randomly to teachers, across schools, is called "busing", which has never been popular among prosperous families--just the people likely to turn out at school board elections. (Not that I don't see the appeal of your proposal.)