Statement by Sandra Feldman, 
President of the American Federation of Teachers,
on NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment Results 
for Reading and Writing 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C.--This study confirms that you often have to look beneath the surface to see what works in our public schools.  In many cases, students in some of the most challenging circumstances are performing at or above national averages.  The secret of their success is no secret at all.  Where high-quality reforms have been adopted and sustained, students are making progress.  This should put an end to the myth that all schools educating poor children are failing.

Yet, urban schools and their students face daunting challenges, and not all of them are living up to their potential.  Student mobility, language barriers, and poverty exert a downward pull on student achievement that schools work mightily to counteract.  Urban schools need help--the right reforms, ongoing support, and funding equal to the challenges they face.

Progress in urban districts is all the more remarkable given that most poor children start school already behind their more privileged peers.  But such progress doesn’t just happen.  These results show that students, schools, and districts facing many of the same circumstances can yield starkly different results.  We must look at what is working in these high-performing urban schools and correct the shortcomings where achievement is unacceptably low.

Finally, the districts that volunteered to participate in this assessment should be commended for exposing themselves to a high level of scrutiny so that we can gain valuable insights about what works in urban school systems.

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The AFT represents more than 1.3 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers, paraprofessionals and other school support employees, higher education faculty, nurses and other healthcare workers, and state and local government employees.