But for others, parts of the assessment program are working.

Chicago's scores, however, have climbed every year since the assessment program started four years ago.

Once an assessment program is utilized, action plans may be developed based on quantitative and qualitative data.

When the assessment program was created almost 20 years ago, most state officials feared it might lead to imposition of a national curriculum.

Under the county's assessment program, old and new homes are assessed using a formula based on what it would have cost to build them in 1938-9.

Dr. Galloway also said that the assessment program seemed to have ignored the most recent data.

Dr. Cowen found new ideas such as the assessment program in unusual places.

Mr. Anrig said that his organization expected to spend $20 million developing the new assessment program.

The project produced a rubric for evaluating the transformative potential of an assessment program or plan.

Perhaps most important, the legislation would allow the assessment program, which now reports national and regional trends, to begin publishing state-by-state results.