Reductive

Our state's Standards of Learning were first approved in 1995 and testing on them began in 1998. Originally conceived as a minimum standard, once the test results were used as a yard stick to measure the success of schools, success on the test became a focus of many districts. Things really got rolling in 2001 when the No Child Left Behind act was passed by Congress and federal funds became contingent on the passing rate of students. Race to the Top, the current administration's policy has not alleviated the focus on these high-stakes assessments; in fact in many ways it has strengthened it.

Here's a conversation I overheard today:

Is that on the SOLs?

No.

Then why bother?