Last month, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan reignited the ongoing debate about how to improve the federal No Child Left Behind law (NCLB). Under the 2001 legislation, all schools must demonstrate 100 percent proficiency in math and reading by the year 2014. Secretary Duncan recently offered reprieve from the 2014 deadline to any state that would agree to comply with new federal education guidelines being proposed by the Obama administration.

The American RadioWorks documentary “Put to the Test” looks at one of the much-maligned tools of NCLB: standardized tests. The program profiles students and teachers at one North Carolina high school that seemed to be ruled by the pressure of high-stakes testing. We first broadcast the documentary in 2007 and this week on the podcast: an encore presentation of “Put to the Test.”

You can take sample standardized tests on the “Put to the Test” web site.

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