Letters: Write and Wrong

Credit: Edutopia

Write and Wrong

Tamim Ansary's essay "Education at Risk: Fallout From a Flawed Report" (March 2007) repeats an inaccurate claim appearing in the unpublished 1991 Sandia National Labs report he refers to: "Between 1975 and 1988, average SAT scores went up or held steady for every student subgroup."

Scores for white students -- the majority of test takers -- fell from 944 to 937 over that period. Furthermore, they had actually fallen still lower, to 930, by the time the report was circulated. The correct figures are on the Web site of the federal National Center for Educational Statistics (www.nces.ed.gov).

Also, his claim that overall SAT performance was actually improving despite the fact that the average score was going down (ostensibly due to changes in the composition of the test taking population) is false.

Andrew J. Coulson

"Education at Risk" contains both useful and unreliable information. Within the latter context is the proposition that breaking standardized test scores down by various subgroups results in more dependable evidence than not doing so. To the contrary; that practice can lead to seriously flawed conclusions.

Also, Ansary contends that only teachers can make "assessment that gets at a range of achievements" of students. The advent of objective standardized tests occurred after it was discovered how subjective teachers' assessments of students' academic attainments are.

Patrick Groff

Short and Sweet

Tamim Ansary's article, "Education at Risk," was fabulous, one of the best things he's ever done.

Michael Milone, Columnist

Induction, Not Mentoring

How very disappointing to read in "Guiding Lights: Novice Educators Pair Up With Veteran Teachers" (February 2007) about mentoring, a practice that in forty years of existence has produced no research to support its use in producing effective teachers who are able to show sustainable student achievement.

Providing a guiding-light mentor, in and of itself, has no purpose, goal, or agenda for student achievement. After a year of one-to-one mentoring, the new teacher simply retreats to the practice of stand-alone teaching in an isolated classroom.

Schools need a comprehensive, multiyear induction process designed to train new teachers in and acculturate them to a school district's academic standards and vision. The purpose of such a program is to develop effective teachers. Of course, a new teacher needs a mentor, but an organization or structure to an induction program consisting of many activities and many involved people is also necessary.

In addition, there must be a set of clearly articulated goals based on a set of skills teachers are to master and a structured and nurturing system of professional development and support. Most importantly, the program must be overseen and rigorously monitored.

To maximize student performance, all beginning teachers must learn to teach to established standards, evaluate the effects of their instruction on student performance, use student achievement data for planning and curriculum, tailor instruction to address specific learning needs, and learn how to thrive in the culture of the school. This kind of learning can happen only in a comprehensive induction program.

Harry K. Wong

Toffler's Tops

I enjoyed your interview with Alvin Toffler ("Future School: Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up," February 2007). I especially liked his suggestion that teachers take a sabbatical every three years to work in the corporate world.

I think your organization ought to offer teachers an internship during their summers to work for you and give them the experience of the business world. As a technology teacher, I would be the first to apply. I have been advocating this summer sabbatical for years, just recently in a graduate policy paper about the National Education Association.

Please let me know when you offer what Toffler recommends -- though I think paid sabbaticals should be an annual summer routine for all teachers. The experience would benefit not only teachers but also parents and the most important constituents of all: students.

Susan Eastman

Step in the Right Direction

I was glad to see you publish Alvin Toffler's very frank assessment of public education (including his identification of the most pressing need in public education as "Shut down the public education system"). If you want to support innovative teaching in K-12 education, you must address the institutional obstacles to creating large-scale innovative school systems, and Toffler's blunt assessment was a step in the right direction.

I spent fifteen years in innovative K-12 education, starting as a public school reformer and then creating both private and charter schools. Although there are superb teachers and administrators working to innovative within the system, Toffler is ultimately correct in stating that the system itself prevents the creation and dissemination of large-scale, high-quality innovative education. Until and unless those people who long for a better world acknowledge this fact openly, the great mass of young people will experience stultification during ages 5-18 or so.

Michael Strong

Letters to the editor are a vital part of the conversation. Write to letters@edutopia.org or Edutopia, P.O. Box 3494, San Rafael, CA 94912. Please include your name, affiliation, and contact information.