Pennsylvania

Mrs. Schulte is right. Teaching to the test has ruined our schools and limited what we call academic freedom and reduced the talents of talented teachers to drone work. Teaching for tests and reducing things like art and music will not make the classroom a better place but a dry, lifeless hole kids will continue to hate.

Preschool classes
Letter to an Editor

In the Oct. 16 article "Charter schools fall short in testing," an accompanying photograph of children doing origami says it all. Many low achievers lack basic spatial skills that are precursors to reading.

Such skills are taught in good preschool programs, where children are given things such as blocks, shapes and puzzles as preparation for higher concepts, but these programs aren't available to all.

Since standardized tests assess skills that develop over many years, a charter school can't be expected to produce them - even in a year or two - when the necessary groundwork is lacking. Thank God for those schools providing it instead of "teaching to the test."

The small classes and relaxed environment of charter schools are equally important for children who find school threatening.

Rather than closing charter schools, how about making preschool more widely available?
Claudia Gellert Schulte
Philadelphia