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However, then I read this editorial in today's NYT -- and, I've now concluded:

What is actually happening in NJ is that they are settling a major lawsuit. And, to prevent being sued again on these same grounds, they are eliminating testing in the future as often as they can:

NYT - February 9, 2002

A Truce in New Jersey's School War

James McGreevey took office as New Jersey's governor less than a month ago, but he has already made history by moving to settle one of the most bitterly fought education lawsuits in America. After 20 years of foot-dragging and obfuscation by governors and legislators of both parties, Mr. McGreevey has told the state's Supreme Court that he will abide by the court's rulings in Abbott v. Burke. That suit, which challenged the state for failing to provide poor children with a quality education, may be the most significant education case since the Supreme Court's desegregation ruling nearly 50 years ago.

Mr. McGreevey's decision to institute the ruling should clear the air on this racially charged issue and set New Jersey on the road to full educational opportunity in 30 underprivileged districts.

In the last decade, nearly 20 states have been jolted by court decisions ordering them to provide poor and minority students with equal access to quality schools. Most were based on state constitutions requiring an adequate education. Suits are pending in a dozen states, including New York and California. In Connecticut, the latest in a series of equalization cases is moving toward trial.

The Abbott case is the most extensive and bitterly contested of these suits. The nonprofit Education Law Center brought the case in 1981 on behalf of impoverished urban children trapped in decrepit schools. The State Supreme Court subsequently ruled that New Jersey had to provide urban children with an education that enabled them to compete with their suburban peers.

The legislature embarked on a series of delaying tactics, and the court responded with further rulings. The Abbott case eventually resulted in eight rulings that ordered funding parity between urban and suburban schools, a high-quality preschool program for poor districts and standards-based reforms aimed at closing the achievement gap between rich and poor students. The New Jersey Supreme Court eventually declared that the state was responsible for all the costs of construction for poor school districts that could not afford to build their own schools.

The McGreevey administration has appointed a former Democratic state senator, Gordon Mac Innes, to oversee the reconstruction of the 30 so- called Abbott Districts around the state. Mr. Mac Innes recently said that the state had attempted to create the appearance of compliance without doing much to help the impoverished children on whose behalf the suit had been brought. Building new schools and strengthening the curriculum will be expensive, but well worth the cost in terms of the lives that will be salvaged.

Re: post #14 A Truce in New Jersey's School War

Where to begin? While the Abbott decision may not OFFICIALLY have been settled, NJ has acted like it accepts it. The 30 Abbott districts already receive a huge subsidy, so their students are getting well over the average of suburban districts. I'll bet you didn't get that impression from the NYT article, did you?

You can see it for yourself online at the page of comparative statistics." . Here is a list of Abbott districts.

With all the waste and mismanagement in some of those districts, no wonder their children end up short-changed.

The McGreevey administration has appointed a former Democratic state senator, Gordon Mac Innes

Gordon MacInnes is an ultra-liberal J.K. Galbraith look-alike. He got elected on a fluke and was kicked out after one term. Darned right his implementation of Abbott will be "expensive"! Count on MacInnes to waste money ultra-liberally.

a high-quality preschool program for poor districts

This provision of Abbott mandates universal "pre-school" in so-called poor districts -- all, of course, at the expense of state taxpayers. The NJ Supreme Court has forced NJ taxpayers to fund Hillary's "village."