Goodbye, State Testing

We just finished a week of State Testing at our school. Some students do well, some do not. Of those that do not do well, many are actually quite bright. Every year, most teachers are left thinking: is standardized, multiple choice testing really a good measure of what students know? And -- beyond student knowledge -- do standardized test results accurately reflect what has been taught and the quality of teachers? Should teacher pay be influenced by these test scores? With all that in mind, not many will be lamenting the end of this kind of testing next year as a new era of testing begins.