Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
‘Why I Resigned’
In responding to my article, “Why I Resigned,” the Department of Education’s press secretary, David Cantor, inaccurately describes the performance of the city’s students on the federal tests called the National Assessment of Educational Progress [Letters, February 20, 2008].
As I explained in my article, the State Legislature gave Mayor Bloomberg control of the schools in June 2002, Chancellor Klein was hired in August 2002, and the leaders of the new Department of Education spent the fall of 2002 deciding what to do. The result — the Children First plan — was announced in January 2003, about two weeks before students began taking the federal tests of 2003.
The Children First program was not introduced into the schools until September 2003. The Children First reforms had nothing to do with the large gains registered between 2002 and 2003 on the federal or state tests. Any improvements in that year should be credited to the previous chancellor, Harold Levy.
The NAEP reports show that New York City public school students recorded no gains on the federal tests in fourth-grade reading or eighth-grade reading or eighth-grade mathematics between 2003 and 2007. Only in fourth-grade mathematics were there significant gains. Readers can check these facts by googling NAEP TUDA 2007, pp. 50-51. The federal report plainly says that there were no significant gains for any group of students — white, black, Hispanic, Asian, or lower-income — during this period, except in fourth grade mathematics.
Considering that the mayor has increased the annual budget for education to nearly $20 billion from $12.5 billion, I was surprised to see so little progress in student performance on the benchmark federal test since his reforms were installed. Accountability requires administrators to face facts, not deny them, and make necessary changes to get better results.
DIANE RAVITCH
New York University
New York, N.Y.
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