Turmoil in the Testing Industry.

The author asserts that the content of the tests required by the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has become the focus of teaching and learning in public school classrooms throughout the nation. He explains that this is problematic in that states don't usually administer the kinds of tests that measure the skills and knowledge that would lead to quality education for every public school student, and as a result, many of the tests that states have introduced under NCLB are leading instruction in the wrong direction. He explores the demands placed on the testing industry, issues surrounding insufficient state budgets, and problems resulting from tests that measure lower-order competencies, and he suggests steps towards correcting the problems of poor test quality.