The assumptions that high-stakes testing is useful in raising educational standards for all students and that higher standards lead to higher educational performance for all students have not been tested in schools along the Texas border with Mexico. This study analyzed the effects of the high-stakes testing policy on students in a small rural school district along the border. It is a qualitative, single-case study of a border school district serving over 6,000 predominantly Mexican-American students. Quantitative school data (retention rates, dropout rates, program placement rates) and qualitative data were collected. Interviews were held with 31 teachers, 6 counselors, 10 administrators, 11 community members, and 7 school board members. Site visits were made to an elementary school designated as exemplary by the state, the intermediate school (grades 4-6), the middle school, and a low-performing high school. Findings suggest that the high stakes policy provisions have not been sensitive to the complexity of language experience in this community, where most students are "intermediate" speakers of English. Other contextual factors, such as access to mainstream experiences and the cultural exchange with Mexico, are also ignored by the testing program. Border schools, their recourses, the communities they serve, and the students' educational experiences are dramatically different from other Texas schools, and their students may not benefit from a policy that assumes that all schools are alike. (Contains 2 charts, 8 tables, and 40 references.) (SLD)