To the Editor: Debra Bartman, or whoever wrote the letter in the April 19 Valley Independent, is in need of a course in reading comprehension. I did not say, “…that the teachers in the Donora Elementary Center, Monongahela Elementary Center and Carroll Middle School are incompetent…” I quoted an article in the Aug. 14, 2003, Valley Independent which said that there are four schools in Washington County “that are not making sufficient progress toward meeting the federal government’s expectations for student achievement.” I congratulate the Ringgold School District for meeting 19 of 21 adequate yearly progress targets for the school year of 2003-04. I would like to point out that the Ringgold School District’s results in this matter really do not mean much, since the AYP is a measure of yearly progress with a target date of 2014 to achieve 100 percent for reading and math proficiency, plus graduation/attendance. Isn’t this amazing, just showing up for school improves the AYP! Ms. Bartman implies that target sub-groups which include “…students who are economically disadvantaged, from racial or ethnic minority groups, have disabilities, or have limited English proficiency,” are, at best, difficult to teach. I would suggest that any teacher who finds it difficult to teach certain “sub-groups” should take the time and make the effort to learn to teach them. After all, one cannot pick and choose who or how someone is to be taught. Let’s take a look at Ringgold’s 2004 results: How students performed on state reading tests Grade 5 reading proficiency: Ringgold, 57.9; state, 63.0; county, 66.3. Grade 8 reading proficiency: Ringgold, 72.0; state, 69.0; county, 72.2. Grade 11 reading proficiency, Ringgold: 51.6; state, 61.0; county, 67.1 How students performed on state math tests: Grade 5, math proficiency, Ringgold, 52.3; state, 61.0; county, 62.8. Grade 8 math proficiency, Ringgold, 52.9; state, 58.0; county, 59.2. Grade 11 math proficiency, Ringgold, 42.5; state, 49.0; county, 51.3. In only one area, Grade 8 reading, is Ringgold’s performance better than the state’s, with the grade 11 math considerably lower than either the state or county results, on standardized tests. It is small wonder that many students, not only in Ringgold, but in other school districts as well, need to take remedial math courses in college before undertaking college level courses. These results can be viewed on the Internet at www.schoolmatters.com. These statistics, and others, have been compiled by Standard & Poor’s. I whole-heartedly and unreservedly agree with the three suggestions for parents that Ms. Bartman lists in her letter. Further, I did not say, nor did I imply, that all teachers are incompetent. What I did say is that there are incompetent teachers and, if the school district and the administration were doing their job of evaluating the performance of individual teachers properly, such teachers could and should be terminated, despite what the Ringgold Education Union feels about the matter. In case Ms. Bartman doesn’t know, one of the principal purposes of tests is to determine what a student’s weaknesses are, and focus the attention of the teacher on the weakness. Finally, I would like to point out that the federal government has no constitutional authority to become involved in educational matters. This is in direct violation of the Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. It is only because states and school districts hope to receive money from federal taxes that they do not challenge the federal government’s involvement. William F. Brna Monongahela

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