Recently I examined the report in the Journal and Courier comparing the schools in our community on the Indiana statewide achievement tests. My desk also contained a curious letter that I read again although I knew its contents quite well:

Sept. 3, 1906

Dear Pa,

You might be mad to hear this, but I have gone off to sea. I know you wanted me to follow your path as a blacksmith, but I have made up my mind. It's not for nothing either. I am going to get money for Ma to get better again. The money will also go to tools that you use. When you get this letter, I'll be long gone. I know I quit school in fifth grade, but I'm smart enough to make my own decisions now. I do not want to become a blacksmith. I want to go and be a sailor. I hope you change your mind about me going.

Your Loving son,

Colin

P.S. Show this ta Ma.

Colin ended up on an old square-rigger anchored in the San Francisco Bay. But he never left harbor. He spent the night sleeping in the forecastle bunks with his friends. He actually wrote the letter on Sept. 3, 2003, as did the other students in Lorraine Neilsen's fifth-grade class at Valley Oaks Elementary School in Davis, Calif.

Colin's father was not totally surprised by the note tucked under his pillow. His assignment from Ms. Neilsen was to write a letter to his son sharing the news back home during 1906, the year of San Francisco's great earthquake.

Before the trip to San Francisco, my grandson Colin helped his classmates lay out the exact perimeter of the ship on the playground. After their return, I'm sure there would be wonderful opportunities to choose from. The more abstractly oriented students might have found out about the trade routes from San Francisco. What went out and what came back? More concrete thinkers might have drawn a picture or built a model of the square-rigger merchantman.

I wonder whether state assessments of achievement can capture the rich experiences of Ms. Neilsen's students. I also wonder if such tests encourage the best instructional practices?

Over-emphasis on test scores tends to narrow the range of goals and activities teachers feel free to offer their students. Particularly at risk are activities that go beyond rote learning and memorization. Alfred North Whitehead, in his book The Aims of Education, warns against inert ideas "that is, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations." Whitehead goes on: "If you have much to do with the young as they emerge from school and from the university, you soon note the dulled minds of those whose education has consisted in the acquirement of inert knowledge."

This is why Colin's trip to board the sailing ship is so important to our consideration of tests. The trip set the switches for a host of inquiry, inquiry in which no child is left out; inquiry that helps children grow in ways not measured by conventional tests.

In studying outcomes not measured by tests we have asked students to complete this sentence: "When I study history I ..." Two examples show quite different attitudes that may stem from the way students engage the material.

"When I study I just try to memorize the facts I'll need and get through the stuff as fast as I can."

"When I study history, I think of all the hardships faced by the pioneers that came before me and how much easier I have it."

Indiana University has just developed the High School Survey of Student Engagement. Some questions ask students how much their class work emphasizes applying information, examining ideas, organizing thoughts and making judgments. Other items ask about feelings and attitudes: "I am excited about my classes." "There is at least one adult in my school who cares about me and knows me well." "I feel that I 'fit in' at my school." Enter the name of the survey in a Google search to see the questionnaire and more about the program. School leaders can call Gail Hall in Bloomington at (812) 856-1429 for more information.

We need to broaden the calipers we use to measure schools. Expecting all students to jump the same hurdles is not productive. Teachers need not be prodded to "leave no child behind." They have always worked their hearts out on that. Given the range of abilities in each class the quest is to "leave no child out." Finding ways to fit each child into the class and school community -- even finding ways to help each child shine -- is the awesome goal of every dedicated teacher.

It is time to reduce emphasis on testing. It is time to urge legislators to rethink testing policy. It is time to start the long road back from "accountability" to teacher autonomy, to teacher nurturance, to teacher respect. And it is long past time to tell teachers like Ms. Neilsen that we appreciate their work.

McDaniel is a retired professor of educational psychology from Purdue University.