Testing has replaced teaching in most public schools. Pretests, drills, tests, and retests fill my own children’s school week. They know that the best way to read a textbook is to look at the questions at the end of the chapter and then skim the text for the answers. I believe that my daughter Erica, who gets excellent marks, has never read a chapter of any of her school textbooks all the way through. And teachers are often heard to state proudly and openly that they teach to the mandated state test. Teaching to the test is a curious phenomenon. Instead of deciding what skills students ought