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You've heard it a thousand times before: "We need to hold schools and teachers accountable for what goes on in the classroom, and standardized testing is the best tool we have for objectively measuring performance". You've heard it so many times it almost sounds true. Almost.

The real truth is that the push for increased testing usually comes from politicians and administrators who have something to gain, such as votes, or a pumped up resume. How many times have you seen ordinary parents outside a school picketing and shouting for increased testing? The need for "accountability" is really about those with an axe to grind seeking to show how schools are failing or how they will improve school performance; measured, of course, by further testing. Ask yourself this simple question: do you know how your own child is performing in class?

That brings us to the crux of the matter. Children--your children--are individuals. They are not cogs on an educational wheel. As a parent, you are concerned with the intellectual, social, emotional and physical growth and well being of your child. If you know through your own knowledge and through the knowledge of your child's teacher that she is performing to the best of her abilities, why would you care how your child compares in taking a standardized test one day that is normed against many thousands of other strangers? Unless you are caught up in the race for "accountability", you probably don't care.

Instead of needlessly worrying about meaningless scores, isn't it more important for your child that you be concerned about his or her individual growth? Many child experts think so. There are numerous assessment systems designed specifically to record and evaluate your child's individual progress in the classroom. Isn't that what matters to you?

Student portfolios, a system that was partially implemented in Readington Township schools, is an excellent example. This system is not, as some may believe, simply a folder stuffed with schoolwork. Implemented correctly, portfolios are a rigorous and systematic evaluation process running through the entire school year and even through each child's time in school. Students are repeatedly assessed on an individual basis by teachers for a long list of specific developmental milestones. The literacy portfolio, for example, will include writing samples, various verbal and written assessments for sight words, spelling, and comprehension given one-on-one, running records of a child's performance while reading out loud, and more. Portfolios exist for other subjects too.

The portfolio system, which has been implemented in American schools right on up to high school, is such an outstanding tool because it evaluates your child as an individual and it follows your child throughout the whole year. Unlike high-stakes standardized testing, a single day of feeling under the weather will not produce a wildly inaccurate test score under the portfolio system. Plus, a picture of the entire school can be had by randomly and anonymously pulling a few portfolios from each classroom for review.