FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Leslie A. Dunbar

(212)558-5438 ldunbar@nul.org

New York, NY, August 30, 2000–The findings of the recent study conducted by Harvard are, at first glance, compelling indeed.

That African-American students who won vouchers and switched to private schools outperformed peers who remained in public schools is indeed an eye-opening revelation.

However, before proponents of vouchers and, more importantly, those who are still sitting on the fence on this issue get swept up in a tidal wave of enthusiasm and support for vouchers, we urge them to step back a moment and consider the following:

The National Urban League recognizes that parents who are fed up with lousy public schools find vouchers alluring. Their impatience is perfectly understandable. I cannot fault them for seeking the best for their children.

However, are the research findings a compelling argument for vouchers or are they a compelling argument for schools equipped for helping children learn? Schools with smaller class sizes, certified, better trained, and less frazzled teachers, as well as more modern, less decrepit facilities.

In most cities, many of our public schools are obsolete and overcrowded, mammoth and anonymous and staffed with uncertified, underpaid instructors. In New York City, for instance, the schools with the lowest scores on the state exams have the highest percentage of uncertified teachers. These schools also have more teachers who barely made it past the state certification exams.

The 21^st century school should be a modern citadel of learning, not a moldy relic of days gone bye. And they should be much smaller. Just recently, Bank Street College released a study of small high schools in Chicago, schools with fewer than 400 students. Bank Street found that, compared with students in larger schools, these students earned higher grades, dropped out less, had higher attendance rates and failed fewer courses.

Opposition to vouchers isn’t tantamount to saying that the performance of urban public schools is satisfactory. Since 95 percent of our youngsters attend public schools, what’s urgently needed is radical reform that structures public education so that its sole reason for being is student success.

Let us not lose sight of that fact in the face of the rhetoric, and in the glow of study results that blind our attention from the real issues: if our public schools were transformed into institutions that mirror successful private schools, and there are countless examples of public schools doing just that, all students would have a better chance at succeeding.

Founded in 1910, the National Urban League is a nonprofit organization that, through its 114 affiliates in 34 states and the District of Columbia, provides direct services and functions as an advocate to generate policy reforms that empower African-Americans to achieve economic, academic and racial equality. The League’s headquarters is located at 120 Wall Street in New York City.