ABSTRACT
The 21st century has been a time of both unprecedented growth and turmoil in large-scale paper and pencil testing. Nowhere has this been more apparent than within the world of educational testing. The Presidential campaign of 2000 foreshadowed and reflected what was to come. Both the Republican and Democratic candidates announced their intention to set achievement targets that relied on testing to track student progress toward ambitious national educational goals, supported by content standards adopted in every state. When George W. Bush assumed the Presidency, he followed through on his campaign commitment by enacting into law HR 1 No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The impact of NCLB and of its test-based educational accountability policies is difficult to overestimate. NCLB requirements made performance-based state assessment programs in Maryland, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and elsewhere unaffordable (see e.g., Ferrara, 2010). Many state programs had to be redesigned to meet the mandate for annual testing in grades 3–8 and high school. The focus of educational programming and curriculum was heavily influenced by the law and, in many instances, meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress targets in the NCLB regulations became the principal focus of instruction for classrooms and schools.
