Bring sense to school standards

The story "Schools prepare for shift" (Jan. 20, Page A-1) notes principals and teachers could lose their jobs because their schools didn't meet No Child Left Behind's unreal standards for pupil achievement, set up by the U.S. Department of Education, most of whom had never set foot in a classroom.

Pupil achievement is best described by a New Yorker statement: "One of the greatest predictors of academic success is household income." It's true in Stanislaus County.

Tests have consistently shown that 40 percent of our schools' pupils meet the requirements of the Academic Performance Index. Sixty percent don't, the latter being a match for poverty kids, the ones getting free lunches, 65,000 out of 105,000. Holding school boards, administrators and teachers responsible for all those kids from impoverished homes passes my understanding.

Too, the powers in Washington, who set up the standards, didn't consider intelligence; lower IQs mean less ability to handle difficult material — a kid with an IQ of 80 who manages to get through high school can handle sixth-grade material. But the powers in Washington would rather be water-boarded than admit they're wrong.

We need our state Supreme Court to bring some sense into this mess.

FRANK BURKE

Modesto