Improving Schools
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I give The Times high praise for its May 13 forum for gubernatorial candidates. All four were impressive in some ways, but I was disappointed in all their answers to the question about poor schools.
A high percentage of the worst schools in California are located in very poor neighborhoods, with high numbers of dysfunctional families and kids with incredible social, health and behavioral handicaps. In such schools, the correlation between teachers’ performance and children’s achievement is very low. Even the best teachers and administrators in California would make only a slight difference in those students’ academic achievement. Occasionally a school staff has gone sour and needs to be changed, but more evidence than test scores is needed to determine that.
The reality, in many cases, is that the schools can’t be fixed until we are willing and able to fix the communities they serve. Wholesale firing of the teachers and administrators may satisfy somebody’s idea of “accountability,” but it will not fix those schools.
JOHN HERGESHEIMER
Whittier
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