Inner-city schools aren't the only ones experiencing testing woes ; rural communities and wealthy suburbs have their own complaints. In New York, a college-oriented community, parents organized a boycott of the eighth-grade standardized tests. Of 290 eighth-graders, only 95 showed up for the exam. In Miami protests erupted when over 12,000 Florida seniors were denied their high school diploma, and in Massachusetts, local school boards defied the state and issued their own diplomas to students they believed were being unfairly denied their high school graduation because of the state-mandated test. Teachers in California and Chicago refused to give tests and faced disciplinary action. Why are teachers, students, and parents protesting? What's wrong with measuring academic progress through standardized tests? Here are some reasons why high-stakes tests are problematic: