The United States has consistently ranked low in education among developed countries. They tried to find strategic ways to change their rankings, like standardized testing. This is a test administered on certain subjects such as mathematics, English, history and science, and the format is the same for all candidates. They were not the first country to develop this method; in fact, this method was inspired by other countries which seemed to be doing better than them and which nevertheless remained ranked at the bottom of the scale. In 2002, President George W. Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which tied public funding for schools to standardized testing and mandated testing in elementary and secondary schools annually by state education departments. the state. This law also began to place more emphasis on standardized testing, which decreased our level of education and the law "made standardized test scores the primary measure of school quality" (Diane Ravitch 28). Bush hoped that this law would motivate more students to pass these exams and teachers to help them better prepare, but it ended up hurting many schools. These exams like the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) should not play such a large role in schooling and the government should not make testing the focus. “More than half of New York City public school students have failed their English exams. », (Medina). There are so many students who continually fail these exams and are prevented from moving on to the next level or graduating from high school. These exams do more harm than good since students fail to actually learn the information. Students are so worried about passing exams that they are just trying to re...... middle of copy...... Chicago Tribune.Np, March 4, 2013. Web. April 23, 2014. Kohn, Alfie. What does it mean to be well educated? and more essays on standards, grading, and other craziness. Boston, MA: Beacon, 2004. Print. Medina, Jennifer. “New standards mean more F tests in the state.” The New York Times. The New York Times, July 28, 2010. Web. April 19, 2014Ravitch, Diane. The death and life of the great American school system: how testing and choice undermine education. New York: Basic, 2010. Print Robinson, Rachel. Personal interview. April 26, 2014.Sacks, Peter. Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It. Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 2000. Print.Story. “StoryCartoons.com.” : Cult of standardized tests. Internet. April 22, 2014. “Study Finds Standardized Tests Harm Students.” » Chicago Tribune. October 16, 1992. The web. April 23. 2014.