Guest Column: Three reforms parents should worry about

South Side High School’s principal, Carol Burris, has been an outspoken opponent of evaluation systems that link teacher ratings to student test scores. Last fall she co-authored a letter signed by many educators asking NY education Commissioner John B. King Jr. and the Regents to delay and change the state’s evaluation plan. Burris has been contributing to a Washington Post website, and has received calls from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, among others, regarding her concerns. This column is adapted from Burris’s most recent Post column and represents her personal views, not those of the Rockville Centre school district.

As summer comes to a close, students are preparing to go back to school. I find that most of them enjoy returning. There is something exciting about a new beginning. Kids look forward to seeing their friends and meeting their new teacher. Teachers matter a lot to kids. It is upon the caring and trusting relationship between student and teacher that learning is built.

If you ask most Americans what they think of their child’s school, by and large, they think it is really pretty good. The latest Gallup poll found that 77 percent of all parents gave an A or B to the school their oldest child attends — the best rating in 20 years. Although most parents see room for improvement, few think that the “sky is falling” on their neighborhood public school. When their son or daughter comes home with poor grades, they understand that their child’s effort had something to do with it. Parents, I find, are quite sensible in their perspective.

It is unfortunate, then, that we are lambasted with sweeping condemnations of public schools. It creates cognitive dissonance between our faith in what we know and experience, and our opinion of public schools in general. Although I agree that we should all make a serious commitment to improving education, I worry that the reformers, many of whom have built careers and fame by constantly disparaging our schools, are promoting changes that are not in the best interest of students. It may be that the “cures” they propose are far more harmful than the problems they seek to address. Here are the three reforms that worry me the most.