Yet over the last 21/2 years, Dover School implemented a program that suggests Johnny can read - if he and his teachers are given a system that provides incentives and accountability.

Indeed, by the end of the second year under the program, the number of students reading at grade level at Dover rose by more than 40 percent -to 83 percent of the student body in ggrades one through five.

This is no new initiative from any organized body of educational "experts." The Dover program was designed on-site, by the teachers and administrators who saw the need, and worked tirelessly to achieve a system under which their students can and do learn to read.

Dover's "Balanced Literacy" program incorporates frequent assessment and evaluation. It delineates specific skills and goals, and parents receive a checklist on a monthly basis indicating which skills and goals their child has attained. These "running records" of student achievement help teachers remain aware. of each child's progress, and in which particular skills they are behind.

This spirit of accountability is made possible by Dover's "leveled reading library," which was donated to the school as a one-time grant from a private foundation interested in assessment-based literacy programs.

There are hundreds of titles, in English and in Spanish, which were classified by teachers into 20 levels in each language for the first grade, and several levels each for the second and third grade.

Teachers have many titles in each level, and several copies of each book are available for separate classes and small-group work.

Another important element in the success of Dover's program is the intensive adult interaction with the students. In addition to the typical school staff of teachers, principal, and aides, Arnericorps volunteers work with small groups of students on skills their teachers have identified as problems through the leveled reading assessments.

The net result is that parents and teachers can closely track each child's progress and. where necessary, make adjustments.

A paper released recently by the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution highlights the success of Dover's literacy program.

The story of the success is edifying. But Dover also raises some troubling questions about our education system generally.

Why is the program unique? The year after Dover started its program, the California State Board of Education adopted the principles of a "balanced approach" as a state standard, but little supplementary material was offered to help schools implement the new approach.

Most California schools still do not have an effective framework to put it into practice; Dover principal Harriet MacLean was not able to name a single other school that, to her knowledge, had such a program in place, or even in development.

Dover's program is based on a loose-leaf binder filled with charts, directions and ideas, which was prepared entirely by the individuals working within Dover's district. The success of this "loose-leaf binder' leads to a serious question: If a small group of dedicated individuals is able to bring about such a dramatic change in the lives of their students, why can't such a program be implemented on a larger scale?

The Dover School environment is disposed toward accountability, and individual responsibility and responsiveness. Each adult in the school building is committed to keeping track of progress and using that knowledge to meet each student's needs. This attitude reflects the key to Dover's success, and is also what sets it apart from the education establishment, which functions in an ethos of bureaucracy, inflexibility, and mindless paternalism.

These top-heavy organizations, such as the teachers' unions, are ill-equipped to promote creative, flexible reforms based on accountability and may even find it in their best interest to ignore or thwart such attempts.

This is why it usually takes between eight and 12 years for a reform to find its way through the system and into classrooms on a consistent basis By the time that happens, many of the children it was designed to help have already graduated from (or dropped out of) high school.

Why can't the education blob learn from Dover's example and advocate simple ways that work? Perhaps its very existence depends on a set of values and motivations that run counter to everything that makes Dover's program successful.

Bujnak is vice president of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, and runs its national "Teacher Choice" program. 

Hanks is a safety with the San Francisco 49ers. 

Both are members of Opportunity Choice, civic leaders who are committed to expanding public awareness of education opportunities.

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