Call for High Standards
All educators should examine themselves through the same lens that Kati Haycock uses ("Closing the Achievement Gap," March 2001) to call for high standards and a commitment to success for all students. Her data and research provide a blueprint for educators' highest aspirations.
—Dennis Gray, Executive Director, Stark Education Partnership, Canton, Ohio
Differentiated Grading
Carol Ann Tomlinson ("Grading for Success," February 2001) recommends a fair assessment process that focuses on the progress each student has made on challenging material. When I taught in a special education program, I had the freedom to grade as I saw fit because the students were not always expected to work at grade level.
Describing the progress and the level of work to the students and parents provides motivation, pride in the work that students accomplish, and—most of all—hope. One-size-fits-all assessment is a mistake. All students need assessments that reflect their individual progress and level of achievement. I hope teachers will take Tomlinson's refreshing and practical advice to heart.
—Sylvia R. Smith, Performance Consultant, Strategic Performance Design, Aurora, Illinois
Evaluating Columbus Day
I was disappointed that LeRoy E. Hay ("The Faces of Children," February 2001) did not comment on the historically inaccurate and racially insensitive nature of the Columbus Day pageant that the students were presenting in the photograph taken in Loiza, Puerto Rico. Loiza is a particularly poor choice because many of the residents of that municipality are descendants of former slaves brought from West Africa to replace the exterminated indigenous Taino population. Although some teachers do attempt to help students think critically about Columbus's invasion of the Americas, there is still much official and popular resistance to revisiting Puerto Rico's national myth.
—Eduardo L. Antonetti, Humanities Teacher, Brooklyn International High School, Brooklyn, New York
Creative Literacy
Jason Ohler ("Art Becomes the Fourth R," October 2000) suggests renaming art as business communication. Perhaps creative communication or creative literacy would work better. The boundaries between fine art and popular art do blur, and naturally so, but we do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water. Regardless of its utility for literacy in this visual information age, art still has a place as art for art's sake.
—Teresa L. Cotner, Student Teacher Supervisor, Lecturer, University of California, Santa Barbara
