This letter to the editor by Tori Hatada, the Deputy Secretary's Regional Representative in Region IX, appeared in the North County Times on October 28, 2007.

I'd like to clear up some misconceptions from your recent article ("Educators say No Child goals 'impossible to reach,'" Oct. 7). First, No Child Left Behind's goal of every child on grade level by 2014 is indeed possible, and students all over the country are achieving it. On the recent Nation's Report Card, math scores for fourth- and eighth-graders and reading scores for fourth-graders reached historic highs. African-American and Hispanic students posted all-time highs in a number of categories.

Second, thanks to the initial work of NCLB to bring accountability and high standards to our public schools, states now have data and assessment systems in place that we can build on to make the law more flexible. For example, President Bush's plan for strengthening NCLB calls for greater use of growth models that measure individual student progress over time. It also advocates differentiating between the most chronic underperforming schools and those barely missing goals. As we work with Congress to reauthorize this critical law, we must maintain our commitment to holding states and schools accountable for educating every child. Our students have shown us that, if we raise the bar, they will rise to meet it--let's not lower it just to make our jobs easier. Our children and our country deserve better.

Tori Hatada
Deputy Secretary's Regional Representative
Region IX
U.S. Department of Education