There are two ways of raising educational test scores for students in kindergarten through 12th grade: the real way and the fake way. Maryland seems, at least in part, to have chosen the fake way.

In January 2002 the federal government passed the No Child Left Behind Act. In April 2002 Maryland passed the Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act. Both are key elements of national and state education reform, and both made raising test scores the centerpiece of their accountability systems.

No one in his right mind can be against raising test scores. That's like being against motherhood and apple pie. The concern is over how it's done: Are there adequate safeguards from abuse? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

There are many ways to abuse a system of test-based accountability. The most widely reported is "teaching to the test." If tests don't accurately measure real performance, then teaching to the test may detract from learning. My daughter's ninth-grade honors geometry teacher, for example, tells me that he had to cut out most of the conventional geometry curriculum -- learning how to do proofs -- because this skill doesn't test well on multiple-choice geometry tests. Similarly, textbooks are being bought with an eye to improving test scores, so next year my second-grade son will be using the language arts textbook put out by the publisher of the language arts test.

Another abuse is to dumb down the test: Instead of raising the performance of kids, the level of the test is brought down to that of the kids. Because the No Child Left Behind Act leaves the choice of test to the state, many have chosen this strategy. They can't fail if they set the bar low enough.

Moreover, test-based accountability may measure only output, not productivity. Productivity reflects both test scores (outputs) and resources put into educating children (inputs). Anne Arundel County, ground zero of Maryland's test-based accountability reform agenda, provides an excellent example of the results of Maryland's perverse incentive system, which rewards higher output but not higher productivity.

The Anne Arundel school board has been ashamed that the county doesn't do as well on tests as its income and demographics suggest it should. So last year it brought in a new superintendent, the most highly paid in Maryland, to raise test scores. And to back its hard-nosed business rhetoric, it offered him a generous bonus for meeting benchmarks of success. But the school board, like the state, has not asked for more productivity -- only increased test scores. And therein lies the rub: One is vastly easier to achieve than the other.

The productivity abuse is very simple. Only a small fraction of subjects are actually tested. And only a small fraction of these -- reading and math -- are high-profile, high-stakes tests. So the trick is to shift resources from the untested subjects to the tested ones. These resources include time, smaller class sizes, money and quality materials. The untested subjects are getting larger class sizes, less class time, poorer supplies and older textbooks. Starting next year, 50 percent of class time in middle schools will be devoted to just two tested subjects -- math and reading -- up from 33 percent two years ago. Fortunately, in high schools, with Advanced Placement tests included in the test regimen, the abuse is less severe.

None of this was advertised. Advocates of test-based reforms didn't call for a back-to-basics curriculum. They didn't call for a shriveling of the curriculum and the ambitions of the public schools. They promised excellence and higher achievement across the board. The best schools have always had a well-rounded curriculum -- including physical education, foreign language and the fine arts. Only the least advantaged schools settled for the three R's as adequate.

Maryland needs a new accountability that takes into consideration inputs as well as outputs. It should begin by forcing school systems to disclose the often carefully guarded data detailing the changing flow of resources to tested and untested subjects. Tested subjects should not be allowed to cannibalize the untested ones without public awareness and debate. At a minimum, Maryland needs to enforce its current laws calling for a thorough, well-rounded education for all children -- not just those lucky enough to be able to afford full-time private school or after-school enrichment.

No one who sees what's going on in Maryland education will doubt that test scores will rise. The bigger question is whether the rise will come the fake-and-easy way or the real-and-hard way. So far, the results aren't promising.