The Fallout From Scrapping Teachers’ Literacy Test

The recommendation to remove the Academic Literacy Skills Test as a requirement for teacher certification wasn’t a flip decision (“Defining Teaching Down,” Editorial, March 7).

It was a result of intensive analysis by a special state task force, a diverse group that includes public and private college teacher-education faculty, plus K-12 teachers and district superintendents.

Their conclusion was the ALST is a deeply flawed exam that doesn’t measure the literacy skills of future teachers.

The insinuation in your editorial that the elimination of the ALST will harm students by opening the door to potentially unqualified teachers is erroneous.

The only party that would benefit from continuing the ALST is Pearson, the education giant that developed and administered the exam and profits from student test fees. Frederick E. Kowal President United University Professions Albany

There’s another kind of bullying going on in schools: students being left to fend for themselves.

Between possibly being taught by teachers who might not have an adequate grasp of the English language and dealing with fellow students who fear no repercussions from violent behavior, I can’t see a promising future. Gary Kaelin Commack In 1968, in order to get a substitute teachers li- cense in New York City, I had to pass a literacy and knowledge test and was given a 30-minute time limit to prepare a lesson, to be given in front of three licensed principals.

If they continue dumbing down the exams in order to get unqualified minorities into teaching and administrative positions, New York City will continue to reap what it has sowed — more unqualified and failing students. Walter Faust Bronxville