LETTER TO THE EDITOR ABOUT KISD'S READING CURRICULUM   BY MARY MCGARR:

Letter to the Editor about KISD's Reading Curriculum

                                    December 10, 1996

Editor

Katy Times

Dear Editor:

In an article appearing in that “other” paper [Houston Chronicle] which does not allow for public response to its questionable journalistic efforts, the president of our school board seems to have “lost it.”  Following a school board public forum session where [former KISD school board member] Ken Burton pointed out the reading deficiencies of KISD students, the low test results that stem from their  reading deficiencies, the lack of co-ordination of remedial reading programs, and the dismal prospects of many KISD students who are not prepared for college level work, Joe Kimmel, KISD Board President, chose to verbally chastise Mr. Burton for even appearing rather than to deal with the issues that Mr. Burton brought forward.

 If Mr. Burton says one-third of our students are language deficient and offers HIS proof, and Mr. Kimmel disagrees, why shouldn’t Mr. Kimmel have to prove that all of our students are language proficient, if that is his assertion?  Where is HIS proof that they are?  For him to cite the “wonderful” TAAS scores as evidence that our students are doing well is a joke.  As Mr. Burton has pointed out many times, the TAAS scores for every school district in the state went UP this year, and these scores are NOT indicative of anything except minimal accomplishment, and the TAAS does not even measure reading proficiency.  One has to wonder why Mr. Kimmel didn’t refer to  KISD students’ SAT scores.  Could it be that he didn’t want to mention that they are consistently lower than those of students in Plano ISD or Round Rock ISD or Bellaire HS or any number of other Texas schools?  Perhaps Mr. Kimmel should have mentioned the 38% passing rate of students on the Algebra end of year test as evidence of KISD superiority.

If there is anyone out there who thinks that KISD actually prepares the 85% of our students who wish to obtain a college degree to do so, please check the college graduation rates for the class of 1992, or 1991, or 1990, or....  Or give Zach Hodges a call at HCC and ask how many KISD students cannot pass the TASP (the test they have to pass to stay in a Texas public college) or how many are taking remedial English. I think anyone would be appalled. And once again let me repeat; these low scores are not the fault of the students or their teachers; the fault lies with the curriculum that is being delivered, and that is the fault of the KISD School Board and the administration 

If there are not 13 remedial programs at one school as Mr. Burton stated, then the board president should deny that specific charge, if he can. I have expressed considerable concern over KISD’s plagiarized and worthless Project Pride program, a remedial reading program, which two years ago was implemented at a very high cost (a teacher unit at every elementary school).  At implementation of the program, the Board asked for a review of the program at the end of its first year, but that was never done.  I asked to see the review last spring before the Board voted to fund it again, but was ignored as usual.  The Board will be hiring these additional teacher units again for the third time in early spring.  They have long been hidden in the pile and are no longer broken out. The vote for this activity is moved to the end of some long meeting so no one from the public  will be there see it.  So after three years, our tax dollars will have been thrown down another hole without any verification of the value of the program being given to the Board and the public.  Wouldn’t it be better to use this money to hire an additional first grade teacher for each elementary so that ALL of the students could benefit from a lower pupil teacher ratio when they are learning to read as I suggested when the idea for the Project Pride program first was presented?  Empirical research (not just someone’s opinion!) shows that this program helps very few students, that the effectiveness is probably a result of the one on one instruction, and that the effects do not last; not to mention that its extreme costs are not affordable by taxpayers. That’s at least one concrete example of a worthless remedial program that’s in every school.

Mr. Burton also repeated our assertion that KISD is deeply into OBE, restructured, progressive curriculum and methodology, and that charge was categorically denied by both Mr. Kimmel and Superintendent Merrell.  For them to continue to deny the existence of these things in our schools when six months’ worth of proof has been offered in every way possible is ridiculous.  How do they explain the presence of whole language as a means of teaching reading, cooperative learning, peer tutoring, retesting until a passing score is made, mastery grading in the primary grades and so on?  Their continued protestations of  “We don’t know what you are talking about”  are wearing a bit thin. 

But instead of addressing these issues, Mr. Kimmel chose to attack Mr. Burton.  That is a Clintonesque move with which we are all familiar. Don’t talk about issues; just criticize the deliverer of the message.  I was greatly disappointed that Mr. Kimmel would accuse Mr. Burton of “expressing bitterness toward the community and the school district,”  “inconsistent behavior,”  and “publicly and privately criticizing ... teachers.”  I have known Mr. Burton for fifteen years, sat by him for five years while we were on the Board, and I have never heard him do any of these things or criticize a teacher.  That is not his style.  His wife is a teacher and his son soon will be, and he has too much respect for the profession.  He is also too much of a gentleman. There is much evidence that over the years Mr. Burton has done considerably more to improve the lot of teachers and students than Mr. Kimmel ever thought about doing. 

Mr. Kimmel is clearly out of line with his remarks, and it is he, not Mr. Burton, who needs to stick with the issues.

Mary McGarr