it and can be defeating for students from trying hard. i think it s useful for comparing across schools, but to use it as a high-stakes test is entirely unjustified by the data. coming from the area of medicine, my background, i am accustomed to looking at evidence-based materials and the time. mr. patrick? fred, as someone who personally sting set standardized tests, a number of us as some of the persian least thinks as somebody who personally stinks at standardized test, a number i supported. we are number one in student achievement. we continue to invest in public schools at the highest level in the history of the commonwealth, as i said, even when there have enormous challenges across the budget because of the global economic collapse. i think it is completely a false premise to suggest that leading the nation in a review of common standards is somehow a retreat from what we have been doing here in the commonwealth, and there is no evidence that it is. so i am