When I get on an airplane, I want a pilot who has demonstrated his/her ability to fly on more than a bubble sheet. I want him/her to demonstrate his/her flying abilities over time - with a teacher of flying in charge. When I want a surgeon, I want him/her to be able to do more than answer multiple guess questions. I want a surgeon who has done the surgery that I am having numerous times and who has good patient relationships so that I can ask all the questions that I want.
As a parent of five kids, I want my kids to have a great education. I want them to develop, each one of them, to their individual highest potential. But I don't measure a great education by the rising and falling of standardized test scores. I don't consider an education perverted by teaching to the test a "great" education.
You folks in Nevada are lucky to have someone running for the Board of Education who has the common sense to realize that when test makers and test experts tell us that tests have limitations, policy makers should listen. Michelle Trusty-Murphey sounds like someone who doesn't blindly accept what the politicians are saying. I wish there were more like her. I wish the media were asking more questions about the misuses of tests.
MICKEY VANDERWERKER
Bedford, Va.
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