When COVID-19 forced a hiatus in federally mandated assessments in spring 2020, it interrupted a quarter century of effort to track, disaggregate, and publicize achievement levels at the school level. The aborted school year put a big data gap where 2020 scores should have been. Combined with the already raging assaults on testing, state education leaders find themselves in a fraught and difficult place. Pandemic-induced assessment waivers and a testing holiday will intensify the longstanding pushback against assessment requirements. The authors review the history of test-based accountability as it has been practiced and the evidence of its impact. This article offers state boards of education suggestions on how to proceed in the short and the longer run. Perhaps most important for state board leaders to understand and communicate to their constituents is this: Results-based accountability for schools and students is perhaps the most impactful education policy. Few if any other strategies produce such broad improvements in achievement.