March 27, 2004 | Opinion | New York Times

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg assured the city last year that forcing some third graders to repeat the year and sending thousands of others to summer school would ensure that students who reached fourth grade were actually prepared to succeed.

That sounded promising. But the effectiveness of Mr. Bloomberg's program has been called into question. Nearly a third of New York's fourth graders - roughly the same percentage as last year - recently received warnings that they were in danger of being held back.

This could be a statistical aberration. It could also signify deeper trouble in the schools, including problems with basic reading instruction in the primary grades.

City officials say that the large number of letters stemmed not from any shortcoming in the strategy but from the fact that the schools broadened the definition of students who need extra help. Only a fraction of those who received warning letters will actually be held back, they said, describing the letters as a wake-up call to the parents of children who need special attention.

But scaring people by making empty threats is not the smartest way to get your point across. The system should have less explosive ways of reaching out to parents so that problems are dealt with earlier in the year. Letters that upset families and inevitably stigmatize students should be issued only as a last resort and for good cause.

Instead, the city needs to look closely at the children who received warning letters in both third and fourth grades. Continued failure in this group could suggest problems with instruction in the primary grades, as well as flaws in the remedial summer programs that are supposed to bring the children up to speed in reading.

The city is said to have revised its reading curriculum last year after the federal government threatened to withhold aid and criticized the program as being too loosely structured. Even so, the city needs to keep getting better in this area. Struggling students need smaller classes and the strongest possible instruction.

City officials should also check into suggestions that the school districts are using too much valuable instruction time for test preparation. A study last year by the nonpartisan Educational Priorities Panel suggested that the system was drifting in that direction even before Mr. Bloomberg took office.

A recent survey by the United Federation of Teachers found chronic complaints about this issue. More than half of the teachers surveyed said that they spent five hours or more a week of classroom time preparing students for standardized tests. That strategy might raise scores in the short run, but over time it robs students of the basic skills they need to succeed in the upper grades.