The current preoccupation in the United States with test-based accountability is founded on a set of faulty assumptions--about education practices elsewhere in the world, about international test score comparisons, and about the extent to which test scores are valid indicators of the quality of education or the state of the economy. For example,…

More than 20 years ago, A Nation At Risk warned that "a rising tide of mediocrity" threatened the U.S. education system and that the United States would be unable to effectively compete with other economies because of a scarcity of graduates in science and technology. In 2001, No Child Left Behind reiterated that message, pushing through…

In response to stagnating economic conditions, the Swedish government introduced numerous "reforms," including a voucher scheme for approved independent schools. Since 1992, enrollments in independent schools have increased only 1%, segregation and interschool disparities have increased, and supports for special-needs children have…