According to Diane Ravitch’s book, Reign of Error, there are several way to preserve and restore America’s public schools. The solution by Ravitch that I was most intrigued was sparing standardized testing in early grades. I teach 5th grade. Througout the school year, my students take a benchmark test at the beginning, middle, and end of year, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and the Georgia Milestones. This does not include the weekly content assessments which are used to determine students’ mastery of skills. I feel that standardized testing is geared more towards evaluating the effectiveness of teachers rather than the true progress of students. Therefore, instead of teaching the needed content, we are focusing on test taking skills and strategies
