* 10th among other industrialized nations in the share of its population that has a high school diploma;

* a higher dropout rate (34 to 30 percent) among students seeking their first college degrees than many other countries.

In 1956, a Harvard University study reported that 50 percent of the dropouts were poor readers. In 1973, a report to Congress revealed that 90 percent of the dropouts were poor readers. And today? More than three-quarters of today's U.S. high school seniors don't write or read well enough for college work based on standardized tests they took last year.

In 1999, then Gov. George W. Bush made "Leave No Child Behind" a major theme of his run for the White House. Today, five years later, the slogan is being repeated. However, no solution other than "testing" is offered in many of our schools.

There has to be a real change in the literacy program. Six basic changes are needed:

1--Parents must become children's first teachers. There is no question that parents are the missing link in the educational chain. Ages ago the renowned child psychologist, Jean Piaget, observed that waiting to start a child's education in kindergarten or first grade is already too late. Parents can provide many informal language experiences with lullabies, rhymes, games and read-aloud activities. The University of Wisconsin program entitled "Operation Baby Snatch" proves the validity of the parents' role. Forty-nine babies of mothers with IQs 70 or less were removed daily from their homes. They were played with, sung to and read to. By age 4, the children's IQs ranged from 128 to 132 (gifted). Parents do matter, if taught what they can do to boost their children's literacy.

2--Stop the stress on rote learning and determine how literacy is achieved. An answer to this problem was provided at a conference on "Literacy for the Year 2000" at Stanford University sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation. It was reported that "literacy is not achieved with rote skill based on worksheet instruction." In this information age, the first step a problem solver faces is to possess a feeling of belonging and to have a sense of "I can." A springboard to learning is provided when things make sense to the reader. When this occurs it serves to steer the students' discovery process.

3--Early identification of children "at risk" to learn. Most schools have no systematic program for early identification of the failing reader, and many have few or no provisions for special assistance to failing pupils. This price tag is steep. The U.S. Department of Education reports that an estimated $5 billion a year in taxes goes to support people receiving public assistance who are unemployable due to illiteracy.

4--Teach to both brain hemispheres. At present most schools stress an aural approach to learning, using only the left hemisphere of the brain which stresses a factual, literal and abstract approach. Use of the right hemisphere provides imagination, creativity and intuitiveness. Hermann Ebbinghaus, a well-known memory expert discovered a noted curve of forgetting, found that things learned by rote had a 50 percent loss after the first hour of study.

5--Use images. Another solution to the reading problem can be summed up in one word: "imagineering." We divorce children from imagery when they come to school, requiring them to memorize sets of words. The result: creativity goes out the window. Many children are visual learners and cannot learn by the aural approach. A reading program based on "imagineering" was successfully used in the Saratoga schools for hundreds of students. It was a great success with a Title I program and was awarded the William S. Gray Scientific Award for reading by the International Reading Association.

6--Teach to children's strengths. At the root of the majority of reading problems and one that requires a real change is the Three Musketeer approach of "all for one and one for all" that is programming millions to fail.

The 1983 report, "A Nation at Risk," sent out shock waves that are still felt to this day. Written as an open letter to the American people, it described in alarming tones the downward spiral of the U.S. school system. The current education reform plan, "No Child Left Behind," promises that excellence is on its way. However, testing and more testing have failed to reap the needed change, and the litany of troubling statistics continue. A few proven changes in the education process can provide educational success for our children, but these changes sadly are not being used.

Dan Ungaro is a former superintendent of the Saratoga Elementary School District.