Results don't show success of reforms

To the editor:

I have been teaching at-risk students in New York state for 20 years and have lived through the reforms that were intended to raise standards and improve student performance. After talking with teachers from other schools, I find that on the whole, the educational reform movement has not been successful, and I find it curious that there is little discussion of what appears to be occurring.

What I am seeing in high school education is a lowering of standards across the board. A Regents diploma does not mean as much as it used to. This is certainly true in social studies. The recent changes in the grading of the Global History Regents and the U.S. History Regents are cases in point. To pass the English Regents, students no longer need a broad knowledge of literature; all they need is to read a couple of books and have some knowledge of what happened in them. Proper grammar and spelling are no longer considered of major importance. In what used to be called biology, there is very little of what I learned in biology. Biology is now primarily about human development and very little about the plant and animal kingdoms.

It appears that a Regents diploma is the new, somewhat improved local diploma. Clearly, if students want to go to college and have not taken Advanced Placement or baccalaureate classes, they will not be prepared for college work.

My wife teaches freshman writing at a small private college. She has noticed a general decline in the writing ability of recent high school graduates and a general desire by them to avoid reading. They tend not to listen to or read directions and generally are sloppy in their work. Is what she is seeing a direct result of the failure of public education reform to raise standards and, in fact, to lower them?

Finally, is this lowering of standards and skills of students related to the No Child Left Behind Act? It is pretty clear that most states reacted to the passage of NCLB by lowering their standards so they would not be hurt by the punitive aspects of the law in their near future. Has the passage of No Child Left Behind done exactly the opposite of what it was intended to do?

Perhaps, more importantly, is the American public willing to go through the struggle that will be necessary to gain significant educational improvement? I can't help but be doubtful.

Tom Fitzgerald
Received via e-mail

Take charge of your professional life

To the editor:
Teachers need to control their professional lives as doctors and lawyers do. I hope you can activate teachers to achieve this goal. Too many outside sources are trying to control teachers' professional lives.

John Jacobs
Southport