Federal File

The Department of Education may be known as an advocate for "flexibility" these days, but the agency apparently has its limits.

When two senators recently announced the proposed Student Testing Flexibility Act of 2002, which would let high-achieving states and districts apply for waivers of new federal testing requirements, Secretary of Education Rod Paige was, well, a bit unbending.

"Testing in education is a way of providing information," he said in an interview. "How could you argue against knowing? ... I hope this bill will...