Excoriates Gerald Bracey's "broadsides" against the author's own article in same "Educational Leadership" issue for misinterpreting his conclusions and methodology. Stevenson's learning gap results did not oversimplify ability-effort relationship in U.S. and Asian students; results were similar for U.S. cities with both large and small minority populations. U.S. schools are in trouble; U.S. students remain uncompetitive with Asian peers. (MLH)