LETTERS

Re “Putting teachers to the test,” editorial, May 10

Your editorial regarding Locke High and the LAUSD’s periodic assessment program has it wrong.

The LAUSD claims that periodic assessments have led to increases in California standards test performance, but the LAUSD’s own Program Evaluation and Research Branch (PERB) says otherwise.

In a study that followed students for years, PERB found that the number of periodic assessments had absolutely no effect on California standards test performance and that the assessment program has absolutely no effect at all.

I have asked numerous times for some other proof that these horrendously expensive assessments do indeed lead to increased achievement, and the LAUSD has not come forth.

The fact is, the LAUSD’s assessment program is duplicative and expensive. That’s why the union is boycotting it. We already have standards-based periodic assessments provided free by publishers that tell us what our students know and don’t know.

Richard Wagoner

San Pedro

The writer is a math teacher at San Pedro High School and a member of the California Curriculum Commission.

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Your editorial highlighted key points that distinguish Green Dot’s benchmark exams from the LAUSD’s periodic assessments. It is not incidental that Green Dot teachers embrace these assessments: “Administrators give teachers the power to develop new ways of improving and measuring instruction” and “Green Dot’s exams are created by a panel of teachers ... [and] carry more credibility with teachers.”

For six years, I worked as a middle-school literacy coach, encouraging teachers’ use of periodic assessments and their results. This year, I chose to return to the classroom and used the periodic assessments myself for the first time. My students’ results were disappointing despite my efforts to “teach to the test.” Next year, I plan to return to more coherent instruction.

I would encourage the district to reform its benchmark exam process much as Green Dot already has: Give teachers at school sites the power to work in collaboration to develop benchmark exams.

Kathie Marshall

Northridge

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As a retired high school teacher, I am convinced that the majority of teachers want accountability. But they also want the freedom to use their own methods.

Class size and parent involvement are huge hurdles that many public schools are powerless to employ.

Wayne I. Myers

Palm Springs

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Before becoming a charter, 4% of the algebra students at Locke High School tested at the “basic” level. Now 12% test there. Results in other subjects weren’t much better.

It’s time to give everyone a choice instead of college prep for all. Bring back general education classes, business classes, homemaking classes and vocational classes.

Everyone has different abilities and interests. One size doesn’t fit all.

Bob Munson

Newbury Park

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I beg to differ with The Times’ editorial -- the most important figure in a child’s education is his or her parents.

Mark Lehman

Highland