Reply #1: I won't dispute the problems with SES, but the testing is needed, and then some.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

I would have absolutely no problem if the states would pony up to develop and administer the tests themselves, so as to avoid the "profiteering" (which I think is probably going overboard - someone's got to make the tests and it's not going to happen for free), but the testing has exposed vast inequities in our education system for low income and minority students.

There's a damn good reason why every single civil rights organization hails NCLB. Teachers just don't like the idea that it exposes the fact that there are some really bad teachers, which is asinine because there are bad doctors, lawyers, and members of every other profession in the world, too.