Dear Editor: My concern is that our school system is focusing so much on standardized tests, and whether we are going to make AYP, than about the children and their education. I don’t think a test should determine whether a child is promoted to the next grade or not. If they have made the grade all year, and they are ready to move up, then that is what it should be based on. We as children growing up didn’t have these types of test, and we turned out just fine. Some of us are teachers ourselves.

 I don’t believe a senior should have to pass a test to graduate either; they have made it to be a senior, then they are ready to graduate. All this testing is stupid. We are here to teach so they can learn, not teach them to take a test. Some of our children are not good test takers, so why go by a test score? They could have all A’s and B’s all year, and a test could fail them. That is not fair to our children; that is wrong. Stop all these tests and get back to teaching. Stop letting tests determine if our children go forward. We are doing more damage than good. The grades show it all, not a test score.