What test scores can and cannot tell us about the quality of our schools.

"What Test Scores Can and Cannot Tell Us about the Quality of Our Schools," by Ted Crone, recognizes that how to best judge the quality of our schools is a thorny issue. The No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law in January 2002, mandates standardized testing in math and reading for students in grades three through eight. The test scores will then be used both to gauge the students' level of proficiency in these subjects and to evaluate the schools' performance. But emphasizing test scores as a measurement of the quality of schools raises several questions. Crone looks at some of these questions and warns us to be cautious in how we use test scores.