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Higher Standards: We'd Love to But...
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those of an easily identifiable type) are learning less than they should, and this is widely thought to have negative repercussions for the students and the nation as a whole.
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Thus, in Schattschneiderian parlance, the loop of the political fray has been widen and the number of stakeholders increased. The effect has been to place pressure on both parties to devise solutions to the problem.
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IV. Standards: We’d Love to…
By 1990, the public and elite clamor for federal action to improve schools was sufficiently intense to elicit a governmental response. Indeed, between 1990 and 2002, there were at least five major efforts at enacting policy to improve public schooling by using federal power to raise education standards. They include America 2000, Goals 2000, the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, Voluntary National Tests, and the No Child Left Behind Act. A brief description of these proposals and their fates are below.
America 2000:Announced in April of 1990, America 2000 was a complex collection of initiatives.
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Its
main policies included codifying six education national goals, developing “world class standards” in education, and creating voluntary American Achievement Tests aligned to the standards. The Bush administration hoped to avoid political resistance by enacting much of America 2000 through executive authority. Congressional Democrats thwarted many of the administrations efforts. Nevertheless, the administration did fund the creation of national education standards in a variety of subjects. However, the first set of standards to emerge were condemned by the Senate 99 to 1; then the English standards were defunded because they were found to be of little use to states and schools. National standards in multiple subjects were created, but no states were ever required to use them. The American Achievement Tests were blocked by Congress.
Goals 2000 Educate America Act of 1994:Goals 2000 was unveiled in April 1993 and became law a year later. For the purposes of this paper, the main policies of Goals 2000 sought to establish grants from which states could receive funds to support efforts at “fundamental restructuring and improvement of elementary and secondary education” through the “establishment or adoption of
32
At the micro-level, ill educated students are thought to face bleak occupational prospects; at the macro
level, the nation as a whole may fall behind others economically. See, for example, Eric A. Hanushek, “The Seeds of Growth,” Education Next, Fall 2002.
33
Elmer E. Schattschneider, The Semi-Sovereign People: a Realist’s View of Democracy (New York: Holt,
Rinehart, Winston, 1960.) Prior to the 1990s, almost inevitably one party or the other stood against expanding the federal role in education. That now has changed. See Kevin R. Kosar, National Education Standards and Federal Politics (dissertation, New York University, 2003).
34
Diane Ravitch, ed., Debating the Future of American Education: Do We Really Need National Standards
and Assessments? (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1995), p. 5.
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8
those of an easily identifiable type) are learning less than they should, and this is widely
thought to have negative repercussions for the students and the nation as a whole.
32
Thus, in Schattschneiderian parlance, the loop of the political fray has been widen and the
number of stakeholders increased. The effect has been to place pressure on both parties
to devise solutions to the problem.
33
IV. Standards: We’d Love to…
By 1990, the public and elite clamor for federal action to improve schools was
sufficiently intense to elicit a governmental response. Indeed, between 1990 and 2002,
there were at least five major efforts at enacting policy to improve public schooling by
using federal power to raise education standards. They include America 2000, Goals
2000, the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, Voluntary National Tests, and the
No Child Left Behind Act. A brief description of these proposals and their fates are
below.
America 2000:
Announced in April of 1990, America 2000 was a complex collection of initiatives.
34
Its
main policies included codifying six education national goals, developing “world class
standards” in education, and creating voluntary American Achievement Tests aligned to
the standards. The Bush administration hoped to avoid political resistance by enacting
much of America 2000 through executive authority. Congressional Democrats thwarted
many of the administrations efforts. Nevertheless, the administration did fund the
creation of national education standards in a variety of subjects. However, the first set of
standards to emerge were condemned by the Senate 99 to 1; then the English standards
were defunded because they were found to be of little use to states and schools. National
standards in multiple subjects were created, but no states were ever required to use them.
The American Achievement Tests were blocked by Congress.
Goals 2000 Educate America Act of 1994:
Goals 2000 was unveiled in April 1993 and became law a year later. For the purposes of
this paper, the main policies of Goals 2000 sought to establish grants from which states
could receive funds to support efforts at “fundamental restructuring and improvement of
elementary and secondary education” through the “establishment or adoption of
32
At the micro-level, ill educated students are thought to face bleak occupational prospects; at the macro
level, the nation as a whole may fall behind others economically. See, for example, Eric A. Hanushek,
“The Seeds of Growth,” Education Next, Fall 2002.
33
Elmer E. Schattschneider, The Semi-Sovereign People: a Realist’s View of Democracy (New York: Holt,
Rinehart, Winston, 1960.) Prior to the 1990s, almost inevitably one party or the other stood against
expanding the federal role in education. That now has changed. See Kevin R. Kosar, National Education
Standards and Federal Politics (dissertation, New York University, 2003).
34
Diane Ravitch, ed., Debating the Future of American Education: Do We Really Need National Standards
and Assessments? (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1995), p. 5.
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