Leave education reform to educators

In 2001 'No Child Left Behind” became the nation's education reform law. It supplanted the research-based programs put into place following a 1963 landmark Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report which told us ‘schools should avoid in-grade retention of students as grade failure results in high rates of drop out before graduation'.

An Iowan's fingerprints and DNA were all over that report. Dr. E.F. Lindquist spent 40 plus years as a professor at the University of Iowa. His accomplishments included development of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the Iowa Tests of Educational Development for high school students, the GED, which he developed for the American military during World War II, and the ACT - a test of college readiness that has grown in stature equal to the SAT, it's much older competitor. The School of Education at the University of Iowa campus is housed in the Lindquist Center.

In 1940 one of Lindquist's most notable works was published. That book, 'Statistical Analysis in Educational Research”, became known as 'The Bible” to all we educators using statistics as the tool for educational evaluation, curriculum development and instructional improvement.

Legend has it that Lindquist advocated 'No Teaching to the Test.” Meanwhile, education reform doctrines call for in-grade retention of students not meeting set standards.

During the 1964-65 school year, administrators of schools with inner-city populations moved quickly to implement no-retention programs. Resistance ran high among lower grade teachers who watched retained students' growth the second time through a grade. Those schools with principals bold enough to empower teaching staffs to develop continuous growth programs fared well within that dynamic. 'Let's Produce Tax Payers, Not Tax Users!” made for a fine theme. This writer did just that from 1964 until retiring as a principal in 1992.

During the late 1960s and mid-1970s, ‘career education' took on great meaning. Children were introduced to various careers during their early years in school and progressed to more focused interests on career opportunities during their later school years. The ‘time on task' studies of the 1970s gave us broadened insights into lesson delivery. By the 1980s, elementary teachers were using ‘cooperative learning' and ‘holistic language', both of which emerged as excellent means for improving academic achievement in what are presently being labeled 'failing schools.”

Meanwhile, it is well documented that a high percentage of school dropouts become incarcerated; and in Iowa approximately 80 percent of prisoners are school drop outs. Iowa voters should be leading the way in political reform” and leave educational reform to local school districts and the methodology of E.F. Lindquist.

' Jack Hanson worked as a classroom teacher for five years, an elementary school principal for 28 years, and a central office director for four years. Comments: c/o Stanard Assisted Living Center, Western Home, 420 E. 11th St., Cedar Falls, Iowa, 50613