President Bush wants to require public schools to test all students in grades 3-8 in reading and math every year. Bush says testing will help teachers to improve student achievement and allow parents and public officials to hold schools and school districts accountable for their performance. The proposal has bipartisan support in Congress and seemingly broad approval from the public. But many educators say the emphasis on testing forces them to spend too much time on test preparation at the expense of more important learning. Some advocacy groups also say that standardized testing has a built-in bias against minority youngsters. And Democratic lawmakers oppose Bush's voucher-type plan to allow students at “failing schools” to use federal aid to attend private schools.

Kenneth Jost is Supreme Court editor, CQ Press; associate editor, CQ Researcher; and author of The Supreme Court Yearbook since the 1992-1993 edition.