"As I sit and watch my children take the standardized tests given by New Jersey for third, fourth, and fifth grades I wonder what we are doing to our children. Yes, I want them to achieve and to thrive, but I do not want them to become basket cases over not passing a standarized test that might or might not test their true ability because of their disabilities. How can we test children on grade level when they are reading in class below grade level? Yes, we are striving and have brought their reading levels up, but because of their disabilities, it takes them longer to learn and to process.

"Testing children several times a year on top of the standardized tests has become a nightmare. These students are turned off by it and look at the important test as, 'Oh, here we go again with another test.' I have seen them get frustrated and when in doubt choose letter C as the answer to any question on the test.

"The test in New Jersey is given in March. If we are to have completed teaching everything that those students are supposed to know by March (we start in September), why do we have school from March until the end of June? The test covers curriculum for the entire year, why are we testing in March and not May? It is amazing how much better my students would do if we tested in May! So many more of the light bulbs would get lit.

"I was glad to see the bar raised; we need to make our students reach higher than they think they can reach, but we don't need to turn them off to education or to think that the most important part of the school year is the March standardized test. Why test a Spanish-speaking youngster who has been in your school two--count them, two--days? Granted they do not have to do the reading, but they have to do the math, and it must be done in English, not in their native tongue. What are we testing here? How well they doodle?"

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