This article reports that national tests in several core subjects could be eliminated or scaled back over the next five years without more federal funding. The officials who set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) say scheduled exams in economics, foreign language, geography, and world history could be canceled if funding remains flat, as is projected. Moreover, some grade levels would not be tested in civics, U.S. history, and writing, and the NAEP long-term trend tests in mathematics and reading, which have been conducted regularly over the past 40 years, would be given in 2008, but not in 2012. The news came as a blow to several organizations representing subject-area teachers and researchers, which have lobbied over the past decade for an expansion of the federally sponsored testing program, known as "the nation's report card," as a way to improve instruction in those areas. Pointing to research showing that content tested on state and national exams garners a greater proportion of instructional time, the groups have argued that including their subjects in the national-assessment program raises their importance in the curriculum. Amid concerns that some core subjects are being marginalized under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, and calls from lawmakers and business leaders for schools to do a better job preparing students for the global economy, some observers say NAEP tests are more important than ever.