Our leaders continue to cling to testing as the primary way to achieve excellence in our schools, when they should know that the “quality by inspection” approach does not work in schools any more than it works in factories. If we are truly trying to get away from the “factory” model of education, we should realize that only the “quality by design” approach will improve our schools.

In the April 2 BDN, Lee-Rae Jordan-Oliver, a fourth-grade teacher in Bangor, detailed the struggle she and her students have had with the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA). In the March 29 issue, reader Patricia Jenkins questions the suggestion by Sen. Jane Amero that Maine needs an additional test of some sort to make sure students have achieved the Learning Results before graduation. Ms. Jenkins’ letter reminds us that we have been testing students for years to little avail.

Is it because of her gubernatorial aspirations that Sen. Amero is emulating candidate Angus King who said testing is good for students and that it should be done “… early and often…”? It is time we told the politicians that our children deserve to have schools that treat them at least as well as we treat widgets in a factory. Chris Holmes Presque Isle