The question of validity, or how high-stakes tests are being used and interpreted, threatens to undermine the entire standards movement. Joint standards developed by three professional associations say decisions affecting students' life chances should not be based on test scores alone. Objectivity and teaching to tests are real concerns. (MLH)

For 2 decades, policymakers have pretended that bureaucratic, state-imposed standards, testing, and sanctions will fundamentally raise all schoolchildren's academic achievement and create productive citizens. The losers have been children of the poor, working class, and undereducated. Policymakers are holding schools and children accountable for…