Making sure every student has learned is important. Paper testing is probably the most common way, but in my experiences tests don't work for all types of learners. Testing can be extremely frightening. I took a math anxiety class to learn about how other people view testing and to learn tips to become more successful.  My friend has extreme anxiety when trying to take a paper math test. She knows the steps and always offers to do problems on the board. She does a great job during class but as soon as the test comes, draws a blank. I believe there should be alternatives to paper testing like demonstrative testing (show/tell me what you have learned). An idea besides paper testing is to do it on the board. It would be easier to remember a previous success. However, not all teachers are going to adopt this method so it’s important to prepare the students for paper testing (especially with new state standards i.e. the WASL and exit exams). By having pretests to see what students know before instruction, students can see how much they have learned and find confidence in their success. It is also a good way to see if maybe they need pushed forward or need to back up a few steps. Math is an area where students that really need to have core foundations in order to more on.  In other areas like writing, having them critique or write an essay can be a good way to find out where students are. In science I think you can really engage the students by giving them freedom. Letting them conduct their own experiments can help them learn more and connect ideas with their own prior experiences and ideas.  Pictures can say 1000 words, letting students draw or write an explanation of a concept using relevant examples has been a good experience for myself for testing.