The US Department of Education, led by the soon to be resigning Arne Duncan, has finally admitted that over a decade of high stakes testing requirements it has promoted has been a big mistake. You can view their mea culpa below in full - but here's the admission
In too many schools, there is unnecessary testing and not enough clarity of purpose applied to the task of assessing students, consuming too much instructional time and creating undue stress for educators and students. The Administration bears some of the responsibility for this, and we are committed to being part of the solution.
They have some advice regarding testing for states, much of which has just been implemented in Ohio:
Principles for Fewer and Smarter Assessments
Assessments must be: 
1) Worth Taking
2) High Quality
3) Time-limited
4) Fair – and Supportive of Fairness – in Equity in Educational Opportunity
5) Fully Transparent to Students and Parents
6) Just One of Multiple Measures
7) Tied to Improved Learning
How we ever got so far off track from these common sense principles is baffling, but what isn't baffling is the need to stop listening to the corporate education reformers who promoted the high stakes over testing of our students and schools.