Tested?

Linda Perlstein’s new book Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade has garnered a lot of attention, both online and in print. Ms. Perlstein spent the 2005-06 school year at Tyler Heights Elementary School in Annapolis, Md., chronicling the Title I school’s efforts to maintain its remarkable gains on state standardized tests. Unlike their more ad-vantaged peers at a neighboring elementary school, students at Tyler Heights have little time for creative activities, such as puppet shows and plays, according to Ms. Perlstein. Opponents of NCLB’s testing regime say the book fuels arguments that the federal law narrows curricu-lum. Check out this posting on the widely read liberal blog, the Daily Kos. But author Edward Humes who reviewed the book for the L.A. Times, called it a worthwhile read, but criticized Ms. Perlstein for failing to make a case for or against the federal education law.