Assessments

I understand that if one is teaching students how to think critically and interpret material they are given, that students will be able to perform well on high stakes tests and other standardized tests. I never took high stakes tests in high school and therefore do not have a clear understanding of what it is like for a teacher or student to have to work toward a single examination at the end of the year. However, I am concerned that multiple choice test and open response questions are not fully evaluating what a student can do. These skills are perhaps more easily taught and graded than other skills and that is why they are chosen, but many students may not perform well on these types of assessments because they are assessed on skills that they are not as good at. This is not to say that one cannot improve at taking multiple choice tests. Is this really a skill that is useful?
Time and energy in the classroom could be better spent in understanding rich content and technology than in learning how to take a test. Yes, there needs to be some sort of standard against which students can be measured. However, instead of punishing students, perhaps the curriculum needs to be reviewed. Maybe teaching out of a box isn't the best way to teach and organic lessons with real world applications would not only be more engaging, but also more rewarding for both student and teacher.