TEACHERS SHOULD MEET HIGHEST STANDARDS

An issue that erupted into political turmoil in Massachusetts recently involved a reading and writing test for aspiring teachers. The state's education commissioner resigned. The governor was accused of turning the testing into a political gambit. And the state's board of education voted to lower the passing grade so some 260 would-be teachers could qualify for jobs in the public schools.

Things have calmed down a bit. State officials have quieted down. And the board of education reversed itself and stuck to the higher passing grade. By the way, the test expects reading and writing skills on about the eighth-grade level.

What's missing here? Plainly the politics of teacher testing is more caught up in issues unrelated to high standards than it is with making sure competent individuals are given teaching contracts. If, indeed, the test is on eighth-grade material, why wouldn't it make sense to expect every teacher to pass the test with no incorrect answers?

It is sad to think that such an uproar could occur because teachers who can't read and write on a high school or college level are being denied jobs. We're glad the board of education sensed the public outrage and its excessive leniency.