Minority Testing

Your article on the declining test scores of black and Latino students in the San Diego Unified School District (Sept. 24) said school officials considered limited skills in standard English as the probable cause of the lower performance among those minority groups.

Although language is certainly a factor, my 15 years in public education has led me to believe that parental involvement is the critical element that determines how much a student profits from the educational system. Acquisition of knowledge at school is often dependent upon the stimulation, motivation and support received at home. Even an illiterate parent can use common daily activities to provide a child with valuable skills and concepts which lay the foundation for learning and create the hunger for knowledge. Training programs that foster parent-teacher partnerships and that value all parents as powerful agents would be a cost-effective means of increasing minority performance and would at the same time create stronger family values.

DEBORAH DOMENIE, Cardiff