Bush Test Plan Fuels Debate Over Uniformity

By Lynn Olson

Washington

President Bush's plan to test every student in grades 3-8 annually in reading and mathematics has set off a fierce debate about what those tests should look like.

The disagreement pits America's history of state and local control of public education against the desire for greater uniformity in reporting student achievement. And its outcome is sure to be the subject of intense negotiations and a major test of the Bush administration's commitment to its education agenda.

At issue is the amount of flexibility that states should have in designing their testing systems. The National Governors' Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, among other groups, argue that states should be allowed to use a mix of state and local assessments to measure annual student progress toward state standards. Anything else, they assert, would constitute an undue federal intrusion into state policymaking, derail states' education efforts,...