Testing schools

When the federal No Child Left Behind Act established periodic testing as a measure of a school's success or failure in delivering instruction to elementary and high school students, one of the aims was to set some benchmarks for achievement by students and, it was presumed, measure the quality of public education in general.

Recently a Missouri task force suggested using the ACT test for all high school students. But the Missouri State Board of Education turned down that idea. Now another suggestion is to require high school students to pass final exams in algebra, biology, English and government as a condition for graduation. Whether such make-or-break tests would achieve the NCLB goal of measuring how well public schools are serving students would have to be demonstrated.

The reality is teachers, administrators, students and parents know when their local schools are succeeding, but few seem to be willing to tackle the bureaucracy when a school is failing.

Question: Would any amount of testing change that?