The author compared NCLB-prompted standards-based reforms with earlier reforms and found that earlier manifestations of standards-based reforms may have been more productive and constructive. NCLB, with its emphasis on accountability through high-stakes testing, has produced many perverse results alongside documented achievement gains, the author said. She reasons that the earlier attempts at standards-based reform and accountability were more closely aligned with the theoretical vision of standards-based reform than later manifestations codified under NCLB, which has moved us away from school and teacher discretion, and placed less emphasis on the need for teacher buy-in. Instead, rewards and sanctions have become the primary mechanism for fostering change.