In response to Kay Smith’s letter about polling people who found out their schools are “failing.” I am a parent of two Renton Park Elementary students. I was offered a transfer for both of my children because their school didn’t meet the AYP for the last two years. My choices were Tiffany Park or Talbot Hill.

In order to make a good decision, we were offered all three schools’ WASL results. My son’s Renton Park third graders’ reading WASL scores were 3.6 percent higher than Tiffany Park and 18.4 percent higher than Talbot Hill. Renton Parks’ third grade also scored higher in math as well. Why would I want to move my child to a school whose third grade tested lower? And why did Renton Park’s fourth- and fifth-grade test scores go down dramatically? Did those kids suddenly forget everything they have been taught? Maybe the flaws are in the test, not the teachers and the students.

I have had nothing but a positive experience with my kids at Renton Park. My kids are learning fast and have had great student-teacher relationships, with teachers who care about how their students are doing on a daily basis. My question of the system is why we judge our teachers and our students’ progress with one test, crammed into two weeks out of the entire school year? A test with flaws and questions with answers that are open to interpretation. We need to find a better system to analyze the progress of our children and the capability of our teachers.

Stephanie Hilfer

Renton