Activist Kozol energetic at Seattle stop

Author and activist Jonathan Kozol may have lost 30 pounds on a partial fast to protest the federal law known as No Child Left Behind, but he had plenty of energy Saturday in an hourlong talk at Seattle Public Library, where he was more playful and funny than he seems in his books.

But his message is as fierce and serious as it was when he started writing in the 1960s: Children from low-income families in the U.S. don't get a fair shake in school.

No Child Left Behind, Kozol said, has just made that situation worse because it has led to increased drill and regimen for low-income students, when they deserve the same rich education the nation's best schools provide for their better-off peers.

Kozol, 71, started his partial fast — mostly liquids — in early July. He has said he'll continue until U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., agrees to support some of the revisions he's suggesting for No Child Left Behind.

The five-year-old law is now up for reauthorization, a process that's sure to be controversial. Kennedy was one of the key architects of the law, which covers everything from teacher qualifications to school safety, and requires that schools, districts and states ensure that their students reach state standards in reading and math by 2014.

The original law was passed by a wide, bipartisan margin. Kozol is among its many critics, but it also has supporters, such as the Education Trust which, like Kozol, seeks to look out for the welfare of poor and minority students.

Kozol hadn't been able to get an appointment to meet Kennedy, whom he considers a friend. On Saturday, however, he said he now has one scheduled for Oct. 22.

If Kennedy agrees to champion some of the changes that Kozol is suggesting, Kozol said he'll stop the fast.

"Sometimes," he said, "you have to put your body on the line."

In particular, he wants schools to be judged by more than just test scores. He said at least half of the criteria in No Child Left Behind should be non-test features such as class size, promotion rates and teacher turnover. He wants states to provide two years of high-quality preschool to all low-income youngsters, and absent that, they should be exempt from testing in third grade — tests now required under No Child Left Behind. He also wants students in low-performing schools to be able to transfer to other districts if there's no room for them in high-performing schools nearby.

Kozol was in Seattle to promote his new book, "Letters to a Young Teacher." The book is a series of letters from Kozol to a young first-grade teacher who's working in the same Boston neighborhood where he worked 40 years ago.

The book celebrates what Kozol sees as the teacher's refusal to teach in ways that are too common under No Child Left Behind, such as using boring, skill-based books instead of rich children's literature, and a schedule so tight that there's no time for teachers to listen deeply to students, and learn what they can use to motivate them.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com