This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Bloomberg View ("Giving up on reform," April 27) has it wrong. Not only should we not defend "one of President Obama's most important education legacies: education reform," we should be extremely critical of it.

We should have the same criticism for all previous reform efforts: A Nation At Risk, No Child Left Behind, Race To The Top, the Common Core and all other K-12 education reform concoctions. Efforts to improve the academic achievement of our students will continue to fail until we help children before they enter school through universal early education opportunities.

Here are the facts. The capacity to learn is established by the growth of one's brain in the early years of life, birth to age four. Without proper nutrition, adequate sensory stimulation, a variety of experiential opportunities and a series of positive contacts, the child's ability to learn in school is restricted by the limitations placed on his/her brain development. Children are differentiated in their ability to do well in school by their early developmental opportunities that cannot be retrieved once they enter school.

Rather than defend the failed policies of past reform efforts, we should follow the advice of neurologists who understand the importance of early education opportunities and of helping parents to develop effective parenting skills which nurture brain development. Let's forget all the nonsense about standards, accountability, teacher training, unions, testing and merit pay. If we really do not want one child to be left behind, let's provide brain developmental opportunities for all children, especially for children who live under difficult conditions. That is a reform worthy of being supported.

M. Donald Thomas

Salt Lake City