To the Editor:
Your editorial, "Value-added Evaluation," [The Connection, April 18-24, 2013] seems to appear regularly—in slightly different forms and it remains misguided. Thomas Jefferson is a magnet school, which admits students on a competitive basis, not on quotas. The writer seems unaware that students who receive more parental support and advancement opportunities do better in school. You cite anomalies in the representation of blacks, Latinos and poor but you do not discuss why whites are underrepresented and Asians are over-represented. Also, you seem to disregard students from Middle Eastern countries as well as families newly arrived from European and African countries. Years of social engineering and "programs"—like "Head Start" have not changed anything. It takes support from parents. You should read Ben Carson's book, "America, the Beautiful," describing how his single, African-American mother raised him to be a prominent surgeon—without "programs" and "value-added quotas." The writer and the readers should volunteer to help in the classroom, volunteer for programs like big sisters/brothers and find other ways to help. We have had no success from the money wasted on quotas, "value added," "diversity," Head Start, et al.
Tom Fields
Springfield