Democratic gubernatorial candidates in at least five key races - including Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Texas - are pledging to curtail their states' use of standardized tests to evaluate student and school performance and as accountability instruments. Most adamant is Florida's Bill McBride, who vows to eliminate Jeb Bush's test-based accountability system - known as the "A+ plan" - if elected. The candidates' hostility to high-stakes testing suggests that, if any of them is elected, some direct challenges to the No Child Left Behind Act may follow. See "Campaigns take aim at schools' high-stakes tests," by Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2002. For a closer look at Bush's record, see "Under 'A+ plan,' scores up, but salaries still low," by Beth Reinhard, The Miami Herald, October 29, 2002
