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Renaisauce,
A good place to get some answers is in the book I have been suggesting. I'm away from my desk right now, and I can't remember whether it has an extensive bibliography, but I'm sure it will point you in the right direction. I believe it mentions the recess issue, too.
As my review notes, test-taking strategies are emphasized so much that the students don't have to be concerned about spelling or grammar in the "brief constructed responses" that pass for composition exercises on the test. In a way, they are also cutting the three Rs (especially such things as writing coherent paragraphs) to teach test-taking technique.
The result: they may be better at decoding words as measured by the test, but they are less prepared to use them well.
Fred Bortz -- Science and technology books for young readers (www.fredbortz.com) and Science book reviews (www.scienceshelf.com)