This letter to the editor by Kristine Cohn, Secretary's Regional Representative in Region V, appeared in the Evansville Courier and Press (Indiana) on May 3, 2007.

Courier & Press staff writer John Martin's article ("Teachers Victims of Politics," April 22) complains about the "ramped-up pressure" caused by annual testing under the No Child Left Behind Act.

"Ramped-up pressure" aptly describes how it feels to look for a decent job without fundamental reading and math skills, a situation faced by many adults who were once shuffled from grade to grade without mastering the material.

No Child Left Behind was passed by a bipartisan Congress five years ago to combat this "soft bigotry of low expectations," as President Bush called it. The law holds schools accountable for bringing all students up to grade level in reading, math and, starting in 2008, science.

Teachers are not "victims" of the law, but the key to its success. Indiana is scheduled to receive more than $47 million in federal funds in 2008 to attract and retain highly qualified teachers. An additional $17 million will go toward scientifically proven instructional methods through the Reading First program, which is showing great progress in getting kids to read by the third grade.

What No Child Left Behind does not do is tell teachers how to do their jobs. Creativity is encouraged, and new flexibilities such as "growth models" to measure student achievement are being introduced.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed said that No Child Left Behind "has resulted in educators focusing attention on those areas that need to improve the most." Indeed, test scores are rising and achievement gaps are narrowing. Teachers deserve the credit for this success. But we only know about it because we measured.

Kristine Cohn
Secretary's Regional Representative
Region V
U.S. Department of Education