ducation reform is nothing new; however, from our point of view, the tension between assessment and accountability is at an all-time high. Currently, 48 states administer state-mandated tests and 36 states publish annual report cards on school performance (Olson, 1999). Kentucky, for example, links student achievement on standardized assessments to teacher pay (Din, 1996). This link has contributed to an increasingly volatile situation, where some teachers refuse to administer high-stakes

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... They end up serving lengthy suspensions and battling administrators over the validity of such tests (http://www.pdkintl.org! kappan/kohaO101.htm). As a nation, we are faced with a political and educational situation in which assessment and accountability are colliding. Accountability is a key word in all educational circles and permeates educational debates from the national level down to the individual classroom level.