The education reform movement in the United States has increasingly focused on developing new standards for students. Virtually all states and many districts have begun creating standards for student learning, curriculum frameworks to guide instruction, and assessments to test students’ knowledge. These measures often are accompanied by accountability schemes that reward and sanction students, teachers, and schools based on trends in test scores. Although standards-based reform was intended to leverage systemwide changes in curriculum, teacher preparation, and school resources, in many cases the notions of standards and “accountability” have become synonymous with mandates for student testing that have little connection to policy initiatives that directly address the quality of teaching, the allocation of resources, or the nature of schooling. Assessment data are helpful for creating