Wisconsin ? A middle school teacher who refused to administer the first part of a federally required standardized test because of moral objections was reluctantly at his desk for the second round Thursday to save his job.

David Wasserman had sat in the teachers’ lounge Tuesday, leaving his colleagues to oversee the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam. The test is used to measure whether schools are meeting annual benchmarks under the No Child Left Behind law, President Bush’s signature education policy. Schools that do not meet goals can face sanctions.

Like many teachers, he said he believes the test is a poor way to measure student progress, takes up too much class time and is used unfairly to punish schools. So after years of growing frustration, he said he decided to be a “conscientious objector” this year.

Wasserman had planned to resume his protest for five more days of testing. But he said district officials warned he would be fired from Sennett Middle School if he did.

On Thursday, he was allowed to sit at his desk for 90 minutes but still have two other teachers oversee the test for his 30 eighth-grade students.