Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

National-Level Initiatives
National Education Goals
At an education summit held in 1989, President Bush and the 50 state governors
agreed upon 6 national education goals for the United States to achieve by the
year 2000. In 1994, two more goals were added, and Congress codified the Na-
tional Education Goals.
The goals, created as a framework for improving student achievement, refocus the
objectives of education, while leaving specific tactics to state and local govern-
ments and to schools. They function, in part, as a general set of standards toward
which all Americans should strive.
The National Educational Goals state that by the year 2000:
1. All children in the United States will start school ready to learn.
2. The high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent.
3. U.S. students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated com-
petency in challenging subject matters, including English, mathematics,
science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history,
and geography; and every school will ensure that all students learn to use
their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, fur-
ther learning, and productive employment in our Nation’s modern economy.
4. The Nation’s teaching force will have access to programs for the continued
improvement of their professional skills and the opportunity to acquire the
knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare all students for the
next century.
5. U.S. students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achieve-
ment.
6. Every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and
skills necessary to compete in a global economy and to exercise the rights
and responsibilities of citizenship.

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7. Every school in the United States will be free of drugs, violence, and the
unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer a disciplined
environment conducive to learning.
8. Every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involve-
ment and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic
growth of children.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the national goals have received
public support because they ‘‘reflect the maturation of a still-growing political
consensus that American schools must establish clear standards of performance to
which all students will be held’’ (U.S. Department of Education [USDE] 1990). In
fact, the 1990 and 1991 Gallop Polls found that over 75 percent of Americans sur-
veyed attached ‘‘very high’’ or ‘‘high’’ priority to the 6 goals that had been pro-
posed by the time of the survey (USDE 1990).The goal toward which the general
public feels the least amount of progress has been made targets achievement in
science and mathematics (USDE 1993). The U.S. Department of Education has laid
out three objectives related to this goal:
•
strengthen mathematics and science education throughout the system, espe-
cially in the early grades;
•
increase the number of teachers with a substantive background in mathe-
matics and science by 50 percent; and
•
significantly increase the number of U.S. undergraduate and graduate stu-
dents, especially women and minorities, who complete degrees in mathe-
matics, science, and engineering (USDE 1990).
The Goals 2000: Educate America Act, which codified the goals, established fed-
eral support for voluntary, state-based systemic reform that includes the develop-
ment and implementation of high academic standards. The legislation calls for
state plans to include the development and implementation of content standards
in core subjects, student assessments linked through performance standards, and
opportunity-to-learn standards or strategies. The legislation also provides funding
to states to support systematic state reform based on state-developed plans. (Coun-
cil of Chief State School Officers 1995)
Also as a part of this legislation, Congress established the Goals Panel as an inde-
pendent federal agency. The 18-member bipartisan Panel consists of 8 Governors,
4 members of Congress, 4 State Legislators, the Secretary of U.S. Department of
Education, and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. (The National
Education Goals Panel 1994)
The Goals Panel is responsible for: monitoring and reporting progress towards the
goals; building a national consensus for the reforms necessary to achieve edu-
cation improvement; reporting on promising or effective actions being taken at

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the national, state, and local levels to achieve the goals; identifying actions that
federal, state, and local governments should take to enhance progress towards
achieving the goals and to provide all students with fair opportunity to learn; and
collaborating with the newly-created National Education Standards and Improve-
ment Council to review the criteria for voluntary content, performance, and
opportunity-to-learn standards. (The National Education Goals 1994)
The national goals have produced a dialogue among legislators, educators, and
school board members throughout the United States that is focused on improving
education standards for all students in U.S. schools. This dialogue and the direc-
tives and funding embodied in the Goals 2000: Educate America Act have led
nearly every state to design and implement curriculum frameworks or guidelines,
and many have developed or are in the process of developing assessment instru-
ments to monitor the schools’ progress towards higher standards.