School candidates, try advocating change

A recent article by Deb Thornton of Mount Pleasant-based Public Interest Institute states that only 38 percent of K-12 students nationally had attained proficiency in math and reading as rated by National Assessment of Educational Progress Test. Iowa students had a low 39 percent in reading and an alarmingly low 25 percent proficiency in math. The NAEP report is the nation's “report card.”

With facts such as these, it is difficult to understand why none of our prospective school board directors in Iowa City is advocating corrective actions. Too many state that they “are completely student oriented” or “believe that students come first.”

Why isn't at least one aspirant advocating a program of longer school hours or year, a “Knowledge Is Power Program” (KIPP) such as some school districts in Houston and New York have done, or starting a “No Excuses Program” incorporating short online tutorials such as available on khanacademy. org.?

If, as we continue to hear from our political pundits and critics of government, our future and our economic success is contingent upon smarter, more educated, and more intelligent Americans, we cannot sit by and hope that we get there. We must take action.

It begins in the school system. Maybe it will cost more, but we must change what we are doing. Who will lead us in the endeavor?

Henry T. Madden

Iowa City