text: These tests do NOT measure teacher ability, school excellence. They were not designed for that so most comments are wrong. The tests were developed to test INDIVIDUAL student performance, but many professionals doubt these are effective or efficient ways to do so. "By any measure, NCLB (No Child Left Behind, the previous national testing failure) was a dismal failure in both raising academic performance and narrowing gaps in opportunity and outcomes. But by very publicly measuring the test results against benchmarks no real schools have ever met, NCLB did succeed in creating a narrative of failure that shaped a decade of attempts to “fix” schools while blaming those who work in them. By the time the first decade of NCLB was over, more than half the schools in the nation were on the lists of “failing schools” and the rest were poised to follow." http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/27_04/edit274.shtml
  Entrepreneurs and consultants developed these tests: surprised at the outcomes?