Jeffords Defects, Forcing Shift in Agenda Later in an interview he said the critical issue that led to his defection was education, specifically the decision by Senate leaders and the White House to drop $300 billion in school spending from the final budget resolution. "When they took that all out," he said, "that was it." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/25/politics/25CHAN.html?pagewanted=all

While a Restless Senator Stirred, the Bush Team May Have Slept The strategist said that when Mr. Jeffords refused to give White House officials unconditional love, they responded in a fashion that left him feeling "constantly dissed, ignored, embarrassed, not treated with the kind of respect you would accord a senator, let alone a Republican." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/24/politics/24BUSH.html?pagewanted=all

Nuclear Power Gains in Status After Lobbying In mid-March, a cadre of seven nuclear power executives sought and won an hourlong meeting in the White House with Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser. Also attending were Lawrence B. Lindsey, the president's top economic adviser, Andrew Lundquist, the executive director of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, and others involved in devising the energy plan. "We said, Look, we are an important player on this energy team and here are our vital statistics, and we think that you should start talking about nuclear when you talk about increasing the nation's supply," Christian H. Poindexter, chairman of the Constellation Energy Group, recalled today. And then a surprising thing happened. "It was shortly after that, as a matter of fact I think the next night, when the vice president was being interviewed on television, he began to talk about nuclear power for the first time," Mr. Poindexter said. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/23/politics/23NUKE.html?pagewanted=all

Con�cept The Standard: Don't Know Much About a Science Book

Con�cept When a Test Fails the Schools, Careers and Reputations Suffer

Right Answer, Wrong Score: Test Flaws Take Toll One day last May, a few weeks before commencement, Jake Plumley was pulled out of the classroom at Harding High School in St. Paul and told to report to his guidance counselor. The counselor closed the door and asked him to sit down. The news was grim. Jake, a senior, had failed a standardized test required for graduation. To try to salvage his diploma, he had to give up a promising job and go to summer school. "It changed my whole life, that test," Jake recalled. In fact, Jake should have been elated. He actually had passed the test. But the company that scored it had made an error, giving Jake and 47,000 other Minnesota students lower scores than they deserved. But it was not an isolated incident. The testing industry is coming off its three most problem-plagued years. Its missteps have affected millions of students who took standardized proficiency tests in at least 20 states. An examination of recent mistakes and interviews with more than 120 people involved in the testing process suggest that the industry cannot guarantee the kind of error-free, high-speed testing that parents, educators and politicians seem to take for granted. In recent years, the four testing companies that dominate the market have experienced serious breakdowns in quality control. Problems at NCS, for example, extend beyond Minnesota. In the last three years, the company produced a flawed answer key that incorrectly lowered multiple-choice scores for 12,000 Arizona students, erred in adding up scores of essay tests for students in Michigan and was forced with another company to rescore 204,000 essay tests in Washington because the state found the scores too generous. NCS also missed important deadlines for delivering test results in Florida and California. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/business/20EXAM.html?pagewanted=all