Voyager president Ron Klausner responded to News 12's Special Assignment: The Price of Education. The full, unedited text of Klausner's letter follows.

April 28, 2006

Dear Ms. Ott,

Regarding the information you requested, we are doing our best to provide you the facts. A thorough response will take more time, but we have done our best to address your question below.

In the interest of accuracy and fairness, it is vital to point out that at least 10 schools have been in the Voyager program for two years or less. Students in these schools have not gone through the full four years of the Voyager program and, therefore, any statistical assessment of their performance is not indicative of the effectiveness of the Voyager program. In that respect, we believe last night’s segment was misleading and we urge you to share the following with your viewers:

1. Fact: In 2001, before Voyager was implemented, 79% of third graders in Richmond County demonstrated proficiency on the CRCT.
   
2. Fact: In 2005, 85% of all third graders in the district demonstrated proficiency on the CRCT.
   
3. Fact: Also in 2005, 90% of the 789 third grade students, who had been in the Voyager program for four years, demonstrated proficiency on the CRCT.
   
4. Fact: 4 out of 5 third graders (78%) who did not pass the CRCT in 2005 had not been in the Voyager program for four years.
   
5. Fact: Also in 2005, 41% of the 789 third grade students in the Voyager program for four years exceeded proficiency on the CRCT.

Regarding our guarantee, I hope you will make it emphatically clear that Voyager stands behind its original guarantee to Richmond County in 2001 which states:

All literacy-capable students in the Voyager program for four years (K-3) will read at grade level as measured by the district’s designated measure by the end of third grade. If not, Voyager will provide intervention materials at no cost to the district for those students in fourth grade. Voyager stands by that guarantee.

79 of the 789 third grade students -- or approximately 10 % -- in the Voyager program for four years are eligible under the guarantee for additional fourth grade reading intervention at no cost.

We believe last night’s segment makes clear that you have set out to support your view that Voyager is not effective; we emphatically dispute your conclusion and we believe the facts support our view. We urge you to post this letter on your website so that your viewers will have the benefit of our perspective and factual data supporting it.

Please contact me if you have any additional questions.

Very truly yours,

Ron Klausner
President