To the editor:

On Sunday I read in the paper that the Lawrence school district had received a grant from the state of Kansas to help with reading. On Tuesday, I read how three schools are now on the watch list under the “No Child Left Behind” law. I shook my head in amazement. Yes, it is good to get more funding for reading in our schools, but I predict that there will be no significant improvement in reading and math scores in this district until or unless the methods used are changed

It isn’t the staff. Most teachers are conscientious and hard-working. But, the district leadership continues to embrace reading and math approaches that have failed time and time again. The district even tried to masquerade its whole language reading program as a phonics program in an attempt to win grant money under “No Child Left Behind” but was rebuffed because the federal agency charged with that program saw the program for what it was: A false phonics program.

We have thrown more and more money over the years at education and have not seen any significant improvement. It is not the money. It is the methods. It is insanity and a waste of tax dollars to continue with failed programs. The district already knows this, but entrenched political powers refuse to budge. In the meantime, our children suffer.

Brent Garner,

Lawrence