Shameless Plug

Per Craig's post below (see also this and this), part of the problem here is that a lot of the tests themselves suck. Conventional wisdom aside, it's possible to design a standardized test that is a pretty good measure of what we want kids to learn--including higher-order thinking skills. The problem is that doing so is really expensive and time consuming, so a lot of states have decided to use crappy, off-the-shelf exams instead that test mostly lower-level skills and aren't aligned with state standards. These kinds of tests can create incentives for "teaching to the test." One way to address the problem would be by encouraging more states to pool their money and work together to develop higher-quality shared standards and test, like in New England. (Or, if you're Matt or the Fordhamites, National Standards.)