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Thank you, Sir, for starting this thread!

I have no personal experience with NCLB or the present high-stakes testing system; such things did not exist back when I was going to school, and I have no children. I always did well on standardized tests.

My understanding of the problem is that there are a great many students who do poorly on the tests and hence do not graduate. For example, students with limited English proficiency (LEP) students have significantly worse performance on the tests than do native English speakers. The schools receive poor marks if the LEP students perform badly, so the schools focus on bringing all students up to minimum score levels. Hence, teaching to the test.

On the other hand, there is the issue of teaching style. Again, according to my understanding, the current model is "student centered", which means the teacher tries to guide students as opposed to direct instruction. Traditional "teacher centered" methods - the one's we're used to, with the teacher at the front telling the students what to do - can work much better in preparing students for the tests. (I don't have the citation at hand, but I will try to find it if anyone cares). So, that might be an issue too.

I hope Richard adds his thoughts. Since he is in the trenches, I'm sure he will have some great insights.