Now that I think about it, there's one thing that's been instituted in schools since just after I left them a little over a decade ago: SOLs (Standards Of Learning tests). We didn't have standardized testing when I went through (just the "test" tests to see how everything might shake out). The sad part for my area is that everyone passes the tests easily, but because failing them means you don't move on to the next grade (and no child can be left behind), the curriculum begins to focus on teaching to these tests.

That really saddens me, because it brings my old school down and doesn't do much to bring the schools at the bottom up.