There is unreal pressure on teachers in this state to produce great test scores. Even if your subject isn't being tested, you are pressured: from some school districts (Atlanta, I guess), there's obviously the push to get those scores, whatever it takes. From others, there's the pressure not to screw up the administration of the test. If a kid throws up on a test, there are actually instructions for how you gather up the messed up test (lest you give the puked on test to someone who hasn't seen one yet?) This is an "irregularity" and it can invalidate your whole class's results because now the rest of the class is supposed to be so grossed out that they can't possibly finish testing that day.
Other "irregularities" that got recorded at the last school I taught at: a bunch of ambulances screamed past the school, the dump truck came by and loudly picked up the trash outside one room, a girl got a fit of the giggles, one class was accidentally let out down the hall early, and someone used the copier in a room next to a testing class. It used to be that students wouldn't even notice something like that but the state is so tense about scores that there's a long list of potential irregularities that teachers have to read and watch out for. They have to watch a film about how not to have irregularities and are warned numerous times that their jobs might be on the line if they screw up, even if it's inadvertent.
The teachers were always basket cases by the end of the week.
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