As the public comment period on the proposed Substantial Equivalency Guidelines for non-public schools issued by The New York State Education Department (NYSED) draws to a close (it ends on September 2), there are considerable problems not only with the restrictions they would impose on our religious schools, but also with the seriously flawed underlying methodology. Simply put, there are many assumptions made about the status of instruction in the schools necessitating remediation, but as far as we can tell those assumptions appear to come from thin air.
The new guidelines would require New York City’s non-public schools to substantially adhere to standards followed by the city’s public schools. But for the good part of a year The Jewish Press has filed several formal official requests under the Freedom Of Information Law for any comparative studies of the instructional programs in the public and non-public sectors to determine whether, in a word, we can, indeed, learn something from the public schools. However, in virtually all instances, the response has been that there is no record of any comparative studies or analyses. The precise language is: “NYSED does not possess these records.”
Particularly irksome is that this was the response to our request for records of a definition in the context of teaching something other than a prescribed area of study, e.g. “Mathematics or equivalent.” This is especially relevant inasmuch as yeshiva advocates, led by Agudath Israel of America and PEARLS (headed by attorney Avi Schick), have argued that overall, a curriculum with Torah and halacha at its base is more than the equal of secular instruction in the various disciplines. So it appears that NYSED may well have dismissed our reasoned contention out of hand without exploring it.
While the lack of records creates a measure of uncertainty and doubt, reports in the media are very reveling about the question of what the public schools have to teach us. Thus, both the New York Times and New York Post reported the other day that more than half of the city’s third through eighth graders failed the state math, reading and English exams.
We suggest that at least until New York solves the problem of “Why Johnnie Can’t Read,” there is nothing to even talk about.