This is how testing should be used.

From Joanne Jacobs' Community College blog is this note about California's Early Assessment Program, meant to ascertain whether students are ready for college. Instead of waiting until after admission, they've decided to do it early, in the 11th grade. (DUH!) This allows students to pick up the pace in high school while there's still time to get these skills.
Most juniors who take the optional exam are told they’re not ready for college math and English, giving them an incentive to use senior year to boost their skills.

Forget NECAP, indirectly measuring teachers and punishing schools. This is testing that is useful and appropriate.

All agree on the value of eap (at Educated Guess Blog)
Here are some numbers:
"In 2009, 79 percent of juniors took the English exam, but only 16 percent of them were deemed ready. Last year, 36 percent of juniors took the math EAP. Of those who took the Algebra II test, only a quarter were deemed college-ready (20 percent conditionally ready, 5 percent fully ready; of those who took Summative Math, with of bits of Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra II, the results were better: 88 percent were ready (67 conditionally and 21 percent fully). The combined result for students who took either test: 57 percent (34 percent conditionally ready, 13 percent fully ready)."

Are you on track for college? (at CCBlog)
California’s community colleges want 11th graders to take the Early Assessment Program – EAP–  exam developed by the California State University system. Most juniors who take the optional exam are told they’re not ready for college math and English, giving them an incentive to use senior year to boost their skills. Until now, the state’s 112 community colleges have given their own exams to decide who needs remedial coursework, writes John Fensterwald on Educated Guess. Now 10 community colleges have agreed to use the EAP and 15 more are considering it. It’s a lot cheaper to catch up on academic skills in high school than to wait till college. In fact, higher education leaders want to get students on the college track in eighth and ninth grade.