Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade

Will our school do well this year on the state-mandated tests? That question seems to dominate every decision made in every school in our country these days. Perlstein visits a typical disadvantaged school to take a close look at testing and the day-to-day events in a school that lead up to testing. It is not a happy picture. All the fun activities of school—projects, experiments, student group interaction, even recess—are sacrified at the altar of testing preparation. For this school, the sacrifice pays off; the school does well on the tests. But an observer must ask, At what cost?