In Defense of Our Children: When Politics, Profit, and Education Collide

Letter to the Editor
The New York Times
March 5, 2004

To the Editor:

"Rescuing Education Reform" (editorial, March 2) is partly right: we must not allow partisan positioning to destroy the chance offered by the No Child Left Behind Act to end substandard education for poor and minority children.

But the law needs more than "tinkering here and there." While requiring high standards, regular testing and the public reporting of test results by student subgroups is sound, the act's entire remedial approach needs to be changed.

Instead of sanctions for failing to meet "adequate yearly progress," we need to get states and localities focused on expanding the capacity of teachers to teach, administrators to lead school improvement and parents to support high-level learning.

Otherwise, what happens in classrooms and at home will not significantly improve, and we will continue to fail the children who need our help.

GARY M. RATNER
Bethesda, Md., March 2, 2004
The writer is executive
director of Citizens for Effective Schools.