[SWTXBelle]

Well, having been in TX when the original NCLB system was implemented, I have to say it invited abuse. Teachers were assured that testing would not be considered in hiring/firing/advances - but then it was. Widespread cheating was found - and what amazed me was not that they found it, but that they did not find more. Principals felt pressure to deliver test results, and they passed on the pressure to the teachers. They say they don't teach to the test - but then have pep rallies and reward systems geared specifically to the test. You pass by schools - and their signs are all about the testing, they have banners painted and posted on their fences, and the entire school is held hostage to the test for the weeks before and during the testing itself. You cannot have a system of punishments (and that's how they are perceived) for schools with poor performance and then be surprised when there is cheating and teaching to the test.
Accountability is good - but education is far too complex to be reduced to fill-in-the-circle kind of tests. Maybe the problem is that the test is too generalized - in other words, that it is expected to be a one-size-fits-all.
My husband is headmaster at a 2 yr. old private school. We test the kids every year with the Stanford Achievement Test - but specifically to be able to gauge progress against a norm, and to fine-tune the next year's curriculum to address any perceived shortcomings. The class results aren't what we are looking for - it's the individual student's results that we use. And - FYI - 2/3 of our students are ESL, and in the 2 years we've had them, they've made incredible progress. I was brought to tears when discussing the results with a mother.(I oversee administration of the tests) Her son had been held back in public school, and you could tell he had adopted a strategy of just "tuning out" when he didn't understand something. You can't do that when you are in a class of 2 students! He has made enormous strides forward, because he doesn't have an option to tune out any more.
There has got to be a way to hold students, teachers, and schools accountable - but I don't think NCLB is the answer.