Tests

Re "L.A. teachers union and district in battle over tests," Jan. 28 While there is some possible but heavily debated value to the LAUSD's "periodic assessments" as a tool to help our students learn, is there any question that teachers are a more important tool? With the district looking at mass layoffs, how can it still be clinging to the continuation of these tests? Until the LAUSD's fiscal emergency has passed, any optional item in the budget should be deleted that doesn't involve keeping as many teachers in the classroom as possible.

Seldom does one find in one place the bankruptcy of thought and argument that is contained in the two letters from the Southern California Federation of Scientists regarding Caspar Weinberger's article on nuclear testing. It is embarrassing to hear such arguments advanced from a purportedly scientific perspective. Jack R. Jennings, corresponding secretary of the federation, finds it "inexcusably irresponsible for The Times to print the atrocious article by Weinberger . . . " Imagine!

The Florida Supreme Court postponed the execution of a death row inmate until it hears arguments in September on the condition of the state's 74-year-old electric chair. Florida's highest court postponed until at least Sept. 15 the execution of George Stano, who has confessed to killing 41 people. Stano is the second inmate to have his execution postponed since the fiery execution of Pedro Medina in March.

California boasts one of the nation's highest percentages of public school students passing AP tests, but educators are concerned about a dramatic slowdown in the rate of students taking those college-level courses, according to an annual report released Wednesday. In 2009, about 21% of California's senior class earned a score of 3 or higher on one or more Advanced Placement exams. The national rate was 16%. The tests are graded on a scale of 1 to 5, with scores of 3 and above accepted for college credit at many colleges and universities.

Re "Students Boycott Standardized Test," May 4: What do the rich kids of Scarsdale, N.Y., know? You state that 195 of 290 eighth-graders, with their parents' blessings, refused to take standardized exams to protest the increasing amount of class time being spent on preparing for them and the interference of those exams with a broader, in-depth curriculum. Do those kids know something that our kids and parents don't? Steve Bell Culver City

Don Morrow had heard rumors that some of the players on his football team at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa were experimenting with drugs. Mira Costa is no different from any other high school in that regard, but Morrow and Tana Hausch, president of the school's football booster club, decided to take action. Earlier this summer, Mira Costa unveiled a voluntary drug testing program for the football team. Players and parents were given a choice to sign agreements that would allow random testing.

Millions of Americans receive implanted cardiovascular devices such as pacemakers and stents, but many of the devices are not subjected to rigorous safety and effectiveness research before being approved for use, according to a study released Tuesday. It's common for such devices to receive Food and Drug Administration approval based on information from only a single study, which "raises questions about the quality of data on which some cardiovascular device approvals are based," said the authors, from UC San Francisco.

Coca-Cola Co. will urge research firms and organizations it supports to avoid testing on animals after pressure from an animal rights group. PepsiCo Inc. established similar guidelines last month. Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft drink maker, had funded taste tests on rats at Virginia Commonwealth University, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Coca-Cola spokeswoman Kari Bjorhus said the company had discontinued funding the tests.

As South African runner Caster Semenya returned home Tuesday to a hero's welcome, President Jacob Zuma chastised the International Assn. of Athletics Federations over gender tests carried out on the athlete and declared there was no way she would be stripped of her gold medal in the women's 800-meter world championship. Thousands of people came to celebrate the 18-year-old Semenya's return at O.R. Tambo International Airport -- and to vent their anger at what they see as her ill treatment.