Agreed on all points, Regina.  High stakes testing that is supposed to influence curricular content instead drives curricula to a series of test-based exercises.  Those who profit are not educators or students but testing companies, consultants, and perhaps private schools that do not require the FCAT of students. Indeed, in the case of students whose first language is not English but who score 15 or higher on the ACT, they have a waiver of the FCAT even though they continue to fail it and remain in remedial FCAT classes.  The tail continues to wag the dog.