Because you can never have enough testing

Ed Week has everything behind a wall now, so this is all I can give you...

For the first time, a select group of states is expected to take part in a 12th grade version of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in reading and mathematics, a move that could lay the foundation for even greater state participation at that grade level on the heavily scrutinized test.

The board that sets policy for NAEP , known as “the nation’s report card,” has approved tentative plans to have 11 states voluntarily participate in the exam.

Each of those states would have a representative sample of its high school seniors take part in a reading and math NAEP beginning in 2009.

Already strapped state budgets are going to be asked to come up with money for it, I'm guessing. Actually there is a lot of merit to this idea. We don't know enough about how 12th graders compare between states. There's an awful lot to say about the state of the senior year in American education. Maybe the NAEP could inform some discussion about that.