Reporter's Notebook

Chicago

Accountability systems that tie high-stakes decisions such as student promotion or graduation to test results are only as good as the tests themselves, policy experts told lawmakers here at the annual convention of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Legislators keyed in on various aspects of the push for higher standards in education during the five-day gathering last month. They discussed strategies for improving low-performing schools, closing the achievement gap that separates black and Hispanic students from their white counterparts, and implementing high-stakes testing.

Linda McNeil, who co-directs an education research center at Rice University in Houston, launched a scathing critique of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, or TAAS, in one session that preceded Texas Gov. George W. Bush's...