high SES = high scores

Several years ago, I received a phone call from a total stranger who was about to move into my school district and wanted me to help her identify good schools. She assumed that because of what I do for a living, I ought to know this...I explained some of the things that I had looked for when I had checked out schools and classrooms for my own children -- for example, a high level of student engagement, clear explanations from teachers before students undertook tasks, a level of enthusiastic activity when it was appropriate, and spirited discussion among the students. 

[snip]

She was not pleased. She clearly wanted an answer that was uncomplicated and that would entail less work.... [ed.: me, too. why ferreting out the one decent school in a very large district should be a full-time job is beyond me. This kind of thing is the problem, not the solution.]

[snip]

A few weeks later, I mentioned this conversation to a friend who at the time ran a large testing program. He replied that he received calls of that sort all the time and that few callers wanted his answers either. They wanted something simpler: the names of the schools with the highest test scores, which the callers considered enough to identify the best schools. He told me that in one conversation, he had finally lost his patience when the caller resisted a more reasonable explanation and had told her, "If all you want is high average test scores, tell your realtor that you want to buy into the highest-income neighborhood you can manage. That will buy you the highest average score you can afford."

Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us

by Daniel Koretz

p. 5-6

Why would anyone choose this image for the cover of a book? 

Just asking.