academic performance of certain students of color, or blaming their fami-
lies and social-class backgrounds" (p. xiii) without seriously reworking the ideology through which academic performance is interpreted and ad-
dressed. I have seen panicked schools adopt incredibly simplistic practices in attempts to raise the achievement of students from low-income com-
munities, communities of color, and Spanish-speaking communities. Some of these include trying to treat children as if they were all identical, turn-
ing curriculum into test preparation, or threatening untenured teachers with dismissal if they don't bring up test scores. In some schools, teachers are being helped to identify individual students for intense instruction based on the likelihood that their scores will rise enough to make the school or subgroup reach its target. Students who are too far behind are not se-
lected for the same intense help if the effort is deemed unlikely to make the school reach its target.'
In 1999 California had established an accountability system similar to No Child Left Behind's system, and now uses both systems to set targets for schools and subgroups within schools.2 Five of the eight teachers fea-
tured in this book teach in our local county where, although there is con-
siderable discussion about the achievement gap problem, it is not clear to what extent test data are helping to close achievement gaps. Test data are reported by school; it is relatively easy to find out whether subgroup tar-
gets have been met for individual schools. However, using publicly reported data, it is not as easy to discern average scores of various subgroups, or to
compare achievement of various subgroups (for instance, Latinos versus Whites) across schools or school districts. The county Office of Education has focused heavily on raising achievement in the lowest achieving schools,
reporting some success in doing so (Friedrich, 2004). But browsing through information made public on the Internet, I had difficulty determining if
there was a general trend in closing achievement gaps among racial, eth-
nic, language, or social-class groups between, rather than within, county schools. Although considerable data are available, analyses of such trends
are scarce. Teachers know whether their own school's scores are improv.. ing or not, but I have heard informally that they lack a sense of how well
achievement gaps are being addressed or how test data are being used to address them. None of the data I gathered from teachers for this book in_ cluded any discussion of how testing was being used to monitor and ad-
dress achievement gaps.
Below I briefly review controversy over reform by testing in relation-
ship to comments teachers made in Multicultural Curriculum Design. in fall 2001 testing was not a major topic of discussion since schools were only beginning to feel its full force. But by fall 2003 teachers had a lot to say, mainly expressing frustration. Those who see standards-based reform_