Proximity not all that

At the July 20 school board meeting, board member Deborah Prickett read aloud an article about the Harlem Children's Zone, a community-based program that aims to increase test scores and graduation rates for poor minority students. She offered the HCZ as an example of the advantages of neighborhood schools.

By coincidence, the Brookings Institution published an article the same day saying that the HCZ has been successful in increasing student achievement among minorities and the poor. But here's the catch: The students who attend HCZ's Promise Academy charter school have done equally well whether those children live within the zone and receive additional support from the community there or come from outside the zone and commute to school. And these findings are adjusted for income and background.

In other words, it's the quality of the school, and not the proximity to the students' home, that determines the quality of the education. Of course, wealthy parents who send their children long distances to attend elite private schools have always known this. Meanwhile, we're told that the only way for poor children to succeed is to stay in their communities and out of the suburbs. The misinformation campaign continues.

Andrew Snee

Raleigh