Four Solid Letters to the Editori

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

EDUCATION LAW ISN'T A CURE-ALL

New York Times Letters-to-the-Editor
December 10, 2006

To the Editor:

Re "Why the Achievement Gap Persists“ (editorial, Dec. 8):

There are no doubt repairable weaknesses in the No Child Left Behind 
law. Nevertheless, it has an irreparable flaw.

It is rooted in the myth that school-only solutions can cure educational 
inequality.

In 1983, a presidential report, “A Nation at Risk,” launched the 
standards movement. This book encouraged two illusions that still undo 
efforts at school reform.

The first is that the problems of American education are systemwide and 
require solutions that touch all schools.

In fact, the ills of American schools are largely an urban problem 
resulting from the fact that many urban schools are overwhelmed with the 
children of poor and minority parents, who are concentrated in urban areas.

The second is that schools have the power to overcome inequalities in 
achievement apart from other reforms that address the circumstances of 
disadvantaged children’s lives.

There is no credible research to substantiate either assumption.

We cannot successfully reform education if we decouple educational 
productivity from broader issues of inequality. President Bush has 
described such views as the soft discrimination of low expectations.

In fact, No Child Left Behind helps perpetuate the hard discrimination 
of allowing many children to grow up in circumstances that make the job 
of schools almost impossible.

We need to emphasize better health care for urban children, stabilize 
their housing, provide preschool and finance the many additional 
improvements that will enable schools to do their jobs. Only then will 
reforms like No Child Left Behind have a real chance.

Kenneth A. Strike
Thendara, N.Y., Dec. 8, 2006
The writer is a professor of cultural foundations of education and 
philosophy at Syracuse University.

- -

To the Editor:

After reading yet another editorial bemoaning the failure of the No 
Child Left Behind Act to get better teachers into struggling schools, I 
have one question:

Why are droves of highly qualified teachers going to suddenly flock to a 
profession where they will be poorly paid, underappreciated and publicly 
blamed for every social ill the country faces?

No Child Left Behind will never solve the qualified teacher problem 
(which I agree is the key to properly educating all children) because 
our country doesn’t respect or reward teachers.

Better to work in business, law or medicine, where you can earn a 
professional’s wage and aren’t expected to turn around centuries of 
economic and racial discrimination.

From the start, No Child Left Behind placed teachers into an 
adversarial relationship with the Bush administration. If anything, the 
law undermines our ability to attract and keep the very people who can 
help every child succeed.

Reed Dyer
Casco, Me., Dec. 8, 2006
The writer is a public school teacher.

- -

To the Editor:

While the intention of the No Child Left Behind law is meritorious, it 
tends to be a simple answer to a very complex question: How to close the 
achievement gap between minority and non-minority students?

In addition, the focus on overall achievement for all students as a goal 
cannot be dismissed lightly.

We agree that quality teaching is an essential ingredient for the 
success of all students, but there has been little attention paid to 
quality supervision and appropriate supervisory ratios in our schools.

Of significant importance is the fact that education does not begin the 
moment a child enters the doors of a school.

For many children, the very early years of social and cognitive 
development are seriously endangered. Research is clear about the impact 
of early intervention and early childhood development, yet the No Child 
Left Behind law ignores this essential ingredient, which places some 
children far ahead of others when entering school for the first time.

If the law is modified, we should take a look at early childhood 
education that begins with appropriately supervised, academically and 
socially structured day care for children whose parents cannot afford 
private programs and who are working and contributing to our economy.

Jill S. Levy
President, Council of School
Supervisors and Administrators
Brooklyn, Dec. 8, 2006

- -

To the Editor:

The educational achievement gap is not, and never was, about teacher 
quality. The focus is misplaced; it needs to be on the student.

As one local educator observed, “You cannot improve the quality of 
education until you improve the quality of the student to be educated.”

It is the student’s work ethic, not his or her possible impoverishment 
quotient, that should be the center of attention.

Stanley J. Kavan
Milford, Conn., Dec. 8, 2006