“Since 2002, standardized tests have taken on more significance as federal mandates, beginning with the No Child Left Behind law, pushed schools to give annual tests and report the results publicly. The Obama administration has upped tests’ importance by rewarding states whose schools tie student test scores to teacher evaluations. But the decision by a group of Seattle teachers to boycott a standardized test this winter could spill out to other cities as a decade of frustration over testing simmers. Since then, teachers at two more Seattle schools have said they’ll sit out the test, with the approval of leading academics and both major U.S. teachers unions.”
