"April is the cruelest month," wrote T. S. Eliot, and I found myself in complete agreement as the raison d'etre for education, the TAKS tests, reached its terminus this week. My despondency, however, must be small compared with the travails of some children in many parts of Texas, who found themselves, in the months leading up to the tests, ushered into special -education status or unceremoniously ejected from their host schools. I am convinced, albeit intuitively, that the pressures to produce stellar test results sets up a corresponding momentum to shield mediocre students from being folded into the accountability roster....