Federal Control #

Far from “raising the bar” as advocates like to claim, the federal push for accountability through high-stakes testing is leading to a narrowing of the curriculum, lowering of student motivation, increasing dropouts, and virtually no evidence of improvement (and some evidence of decline) on such national measures as the NAEP, SAT and ACT (See the February 2003 issue of Educational Leadership). Leading education scholars continue to raise questions about the rush to control curriculum at the federal and state levels but legislators, governors, presidents and others push forward. It is time to speak out with a united voice against government control of school programs.