NYT: School Reform: How Fast, How Far?

Several interesting letters to the editor in Sunday's NYT in response to this article: The Schools Under Bloomberg: Much Tumult, Mixed Results, including this comment:

Too many have held low expectations for Harlem's children. We have a mayor who not only seems to care about reforming the schools, but also is holding himself accountable for raising the expectations of our children. While I do not agree with every single one of his reforms, I believe they should be given more time before they are dismissed.

School Reform: How Fast, How Far? (7 Letters)

To the Editor:

"The Schools Under Bloomberg: Much Tumult, Mixed Progress" (front page, April 18) looks at the status of school reform and mentions Public School 92 in Harlem in particular.

I am a graduate of P.S. 92 (and an alumna of Bronx Science, Barnard and New York University Law School). I am also a parent with children in District 5 schools, and I disagree with the idea that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's reforms have accomplished little.

Too many have held low expectations for Harlem's children. We have a mayor who not only seems to care about reforming the schools, but also is holding himself accountable for raising the expectations of our children. While I do not agree with every single one of his reforms, I believe they should be given more time before they are dismissed.

The mayor should be commended for putting education front and center on his agenda.

Juliet Folks
Bronx, April 18, 2005
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To the Editor:

As principal of the School for Human Rights in Brooklyn and a former teacher, I believe it is unrealistic to think that New York City school reforms would drastically improve test scores and achieve system stability within two years, given the fact that the system has been dysfunctional for decades. Nevertheless, there have been improvements.

My school is one of many new, small schools that opened within the past couple of years. In mine - and those like it - you can see the hope for the future of the small schools movement: weekly attendance rates of 90 percent or better, high parent participation and teachers' designing a curriculum that engages students.

Smaller schools, along with many of the chancellor's other reforms, are meant to improve the quality of education where it matters most - at the school level.

Kevin J. Dotson
Brooklyn, April 18, 2005
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To the Editor:

The Bloomberg record on education comes up short in two crucial yet related areas: rigidity and class size.

A "one size fits all" curriculum does not allow teachers to adjust their instruction to individual differences among children. Flexibility is essential, yet the mayor tries to hold teachers in lock step.

At the same time, classes are much too big, especially in the early grades. One of the very few proven, but expensive, methods of improving educational outcomes is smaller class size. The mayor should be focusing on smaller classes instead of press releases.

Daniel Millstone
Bronx, April 18, 2005
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To the Editor:

According to your article on the schools (front page, April 18), city officials have said that "more children are eating breakfast and lunch prepared at school and that those meals are more nutritious."

This part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's educational reform does not get much attention, yet research tells us that adequate nutrition - specifically, participation in school meal programs - is strongly tied to academic performance.

Improving access to school food and its quality is easily a 10-year effort, but the very fact that this issue is on the mayor's and chancellor's radar screen is impressive.

Richard Murphy
Executive Director, FoodChange
New York, April 18, 2005
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To the Editor:

A parent in your article on schools is quoted as saying she hasn't seen a difference in her child's school. Well, she won't see any difference until Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg can distinguish between the value of aiming money directly at the schools to reduce class size and attempting to build a memorial to himself in the form of a West Side stadium.

Howard Sage
New York, April 18, 2005
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To the Editor:

I have been stunned by the extraordinary expectations the New York City public school system places on my daughter in kindergarten at Public School 150. She has at least an hour of homework each night in reading and math. Her reading and math skills far outstrip what mine were at her age.

I have also been impressed by the role parents play in the system. As a member of the Community Education Council for District 30 in Queens, I've been empowered to a degree I wouldn't have thought possible. I've helped to get a leaking roof repaired and am organizing a seminar on asthma at P.S. 2, among other initiatives.

Jeffrey Guyton
Long Island City, Queens
April 18, 2005
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To the Editor:

For the last three years, I have worked as a substitute teacher in many New York City public schools. There seems to be no discipline or order in the typical urban public school classroom. Disruptive students are difficult to remove.

Until discipline and order return to the public schools and the academic basics are taught, scholastic achievement will never be attained.

Keith Charles Edwards
Brooklyn, April 18, 2005

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 24, 2005 5:28 PM
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