give to give an inner-city african-american kid in june in second grade and white suburban kid in second grade, they can be at the same level in june when they graduate. when they come back in september, the white suburban kid has gained one month of learning from the expenses had an inner-city of connecting kid has lost three months of learning. they are now four months apart in september. and the teachers again have different burdens. so the teachers come it's not that they're getting a bad education but it's not the issues that those teachers are very different than the white suburban teachers are facing. that kid is ahead of what the teachers going to teach them. this kid three months been have to go back into the second greatest of all over again while trying to get a third great stuff. so you can tell it's a very different challenge. what we're talking about is outside the school. i did not find in the research after all those years that the problems actually what you were insinuating there, that they were getting the wrong message

in the school. that's what happens when they leave that school and the next morning when they come. >> let's talk about two things. one is the bad teacher, the roadblock teacher. what is that? >> what we're talking about there is like, you know, when you look at how powerful, the number one thing, the end of the day, a great teacher, the one in the top 20th percentile, ithaca for great teachers in a row, a teacher alone can close the gap. those teachers alone. if it was possible for ever in the country to be top of the top 20%, that's all you have to do. that's how powerful they are, right? very, very, very bottom group, the bottom 3%, they are causing so much poll, so much damage, so much loss that three or four decent teachers, good teachers in the middle can't over come one child getting one of those teachers. that's putting so much --

>> how does the one do so much damage? >> the row of four is gaining, let's just say in the think of the 60%, one above the average, a good teacher, they are gaining a little bit and gaining. so for in a row your again, if by chance you got four in row of the 60% of teachers, you are gaining. but the damage done, it's like you're losing a great, losing an entire grade with that one teacher. that's what i'm referring to. i do want to clarify one thing, because when you look at all the data into look at all the things that the book says, these are the things that you find that will close the gap, everyone goes to this thing. fire the teacher, fire the teacher. that's not what the research is when i look at it impartially. if you said to me you can only do one thing, that's not the thing i would do. if you don't do two things, not -- that's still not the thing you should do. it's, everybody's attention is always on that. that's not what the research

says is the thing that's pulling everything down. you brought it up because your provocative. >> is one of the keys the roadblock issues? >> yes. that's the one. i want to make sure -- >> but it is one of the five? >> it is one of the five. spent i think your argumentative but that -- [laughter] >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> now on your screen is a cover of the new book by john shaw. "jfk in the senate." first of all, mr. shaw, with the 50th anniversary of the kennedy assassination, was it a benefit to publish your book at this time or did it hurt? >> i think it was a mixed blessing but on the one hand the book, there's a tidal wave of interest that came out on the 50th anniversary. and yet because of that there is

this avalanche of books, many of which deal with the assassination. so it's a very crowded field to answer. and provoke what am i to come out at a different time but the book was ready to go am a publisher wanted to go with it now. so i feel good about it coming out now. the thing about unity, he seems the interesting at all times. is one of these characters that is just such a compelling public official, public figure that he is hot now but i think from a year from now, i'm years been out there so many unanswered questions about his presidency, about his political grip that i think is always going to be a popular person to write about. >> we don't think about him as a senator very often. give us a snapshot of his senate career spent that is what drew me in because on think of kennedy as president kennedy. he was in the senate for eight years but before that six years in the house. it was interesting anything consequential sender. he was not a master of the

senate, but he was very active in foreign policy debates, very active in the discussion about vietnam, algeria, the soviet union. he also did something kind of interesting. he chaired a special committee to determine the five best senators in american history. this is a committee that lyndon johnson created for himself, grew tired of it, handed it off the kennedy. so this is really in some sense the one project kennedy was in charge of during his senate career. he took it very seriously, inquired of all the great historians in the country and spent about six, seven months digging into this. came up with a list of the five greatest senators, and it was something that came part of his identity as being a young politician but also someone very steeped in american history. >> the book came -- who came out of the top of that list? >> there was robert taft, but the big ones were john calhoun, daniel webster, henry clay, the

pre-civil war era. securities committee quickly decide on the top three, webster, clay, calhoun. they had a longer debate on the next two, and even back at that point kennedy preferred a german named george noris, but there were some hints that the nebraska senators might filibuster that choice of kennedy had to back off and go with -- there were some hints of filibusters and delays in the senate. >> what would you say was one of president kennedy's most substantive pieces of legislation in the senate? >> first of all, is very active on labor issues. he was the chairman of the subcommittee, a labor subcommittee and that was the one domestic issue he really dug into. it was a huge issue back at the time. he mastered the big it was the one domestic issue he mastered. and even his contemporaries said

he understood the nuances of labor law better than anyone. interestingly he got caught in a very complex political battle, and the final bill didn't really resemble what he wanted. i was a labor law but also on foreign policy. he gave i think some really marvelous speeches on indochina, the french involvement in indochina, on algeria, the french involvement in algeria, on the whole battle with the soviet union and now the u.s. should try to emerge in the cold war. so he was interesting. he was a more compelling person than i expected, and, of course, had some great contemporary. he worked with people like hubert humphrey, lyndon johnson, scoop jackson. it was a really interesting time with some great senators. >> what was his relationship with lyndon johnson when they're both in the senate? >> i spent some time at the kennedy library, and his file is thick with letters to lyndon johnson asking for better committee assignments.

johnson was the senate democratic leader. kennedy was the more junior senator so he was sending johnson a lot of letters asking for different committee assignments. johnson seem to put them away, and ted sorenson had a wonderful know. kennedy appointed john to do some third or fourth tier dredging commission or something. sorts and send them and said we are making great progress. senator johnson is named you the chairman of the boston harbor dredging commission. it was a competitive relationship, but in the end i think johnson came to respect kennedy as a tough, former politician. didn't think he was a real heavy hitter on policy but he thought he was a really compelling political figure. >> did president kennedy's saturday career benefit him as president? >> i think it did but i think he understood the issues, the foreign policy issue very well. he had a good schooling in that.

i think he developed an appreciation for how congress works. he spent 14 years in congress, but he was very clear that he wanted to move on to the presidency. and, in fact, became only the second u.s. senator, sitting u.s. senator to win the presidency. before him the only one that doesn't was warren harding in 1920. and since kennedy the only one who's done it is barack obama 2008. the senate isn't a natural jumping off point to the presidency, yet kennedy found a way to use it to advance his political ambition. >> the name of the book, "jfk in the senate." the author john shaw. >> you've been watching booktv, 48 hours of book programming beginning saturday morning at eight eastern through monday morning at eight eastern. nonfiction books all weekend every weekend right here on c-span2. >> you are watching c-span2 with

politics and public affairs. weekdays feature live coverage of the u.s. senate. on weeknights watch key public policy events and every weekend the latest nonfiction authors and books on booktv. .. >> the senate banking committee's confirmation hearing of federal reserve chair nominee janet yellen. >> the senate returns today at 2:00 eastern time to continue consideration of a bill that would provide a three month