Changing the status quo is it possible?

ASSESSMENT
Being a social studies teacher I currently do not face the pressures of “teaching to the test.” I am not sure if portfolios would be the way to “buck” the trend. Standardized test are in place because they are easy to measure. The whole idea is teacher accountability. Unfortunately, I feel that the government may have a “numbers don’t lie” mentality. As educators we all know that the numbers do lie. Standardized tests do not take into account different learning styles and abilities. A possible radical solution to this problem could be an invite a representative (or other official) to school day. This could give lawmakers a feel of how a classroom operates and just how individual every student is.
I also feel that the topic of alternate assessment is easier for me to talk about because of my specialization. In a social studies classroom, I am already aware of many areas where I can use alternate types of assessment. Formal testing is not always relevant to for skills that I am trying to teach my students. I have used and plan to use many forms of assessment, such as graphs, journals, posters, maps, videos, etc.
One article that particularly caught my interest was the article on primary book handling assessment. In my future teaching I would like to use more primary sources. I would like to include in my classroom trade books or maybe try to collaborate with an English teacher. I frequently use primary sources but I feel that the set up provided by the article will make the learning experience more effective. Even though, this article was more elementary minded I think that the strategies it provided could be modified for secondary grades. I think that as a secondary teacher, I may assume certain abilities and comprehension from my students. I have experienced many different reading abilities from my students.