This brief is part of a four-part series examining the past, present, and future of modern school accountability systems. With the dual forces of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national call to action on racial inequity, the question of how we should measure and hold schools accountable for the impact they have on students is more urgent than ever.…

This article reviews the political and empirical record within music education surrounding the Goals 2000: Educate America Act and reports a new study evaluating the effects of the law on music and arts education policies in U.S. high schools. School-level data (N = 670 schools) from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and the…

Key legislative objectives for the US Federal educational policy over the past several decades relied heavily on quasi-market strategies (such as school rating, school closure, the contracting out of schools) as central levers in "reforming" public schools. Using financial data on 11 national for-profit firms contracting with schools and…

During the past 12 years there was a sudden and unexpected consensus held by U.S. Congressmen and Presidents that students in U.S. public schools were learning less than they should. Moreover, the conservatives and liberals agreed that the proper policy response to this public problem was to raise education standards. Recent years brought five…

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate issued a conference report on the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. The act is designed to improve learning and teaching by providing a national framework for educational reform and to promote other changes in education and federal programs. The conference committee agreed that this report replaced an…

School leaders are increasingly coming under the gun of accountability, and this monograph is designed to help leaders think about, understand, and respond thoughtfully and effectively to the increasing demands for accountability in education. It provides a comprehensive and rather sophisticated set of concepts and insights into accountability…

This evaluation report profiles Academics 2000: First Things First, the Texas initiative under the Goals 2000 Educate America Act to raise the level of academic achievement of all Texas students by ensuring that each child achieves fourth-grade mastery of the foundation subjects by the end of fourth grade. The report states that, at the local…

Speculates about how opportunity-to-learn (OTL) standards might be defined and used at federal and state levels and, in the process, to better understand why OTL standards have become so controversial. The author discusses OTL within the context of The Goals 2000: Educate America Act and how the standards might be used and what they should…

In response to the passage of the Goals 2000: Education America Act, states are actively working to bring their educational programs in line with the act's requirements. Steven A. Melnick describes initiatives under way in Pennsylvania at the local, regional, and state levels. Gary Farland takes a brief look at how Minnesota may draw on its…

This paper addresses state and local level issues linked with Goals 2000 in Colorado and seeks to shed light on the development of geography content standards in one Colorado school district. The paper begins with a succinct review of Colorado's standards-based educational reform and the creation of the state's model content standards. After a…

In this excerpt from her new book, "National Standards in American Education: A Citizen's Guide," Diane Ravitch argues that there are steps local school boards, parents, and communities can take to implement educational reform and high academic standards. (MLF)

Even as Goals 2000 (the latest manifestation of factory-model schooling) is being adopted nationwide, a smaller, but growing counter-movement aimed at decentralizing and democratizing public schools has emerged. Manifestations include magnet and charter schools and the new, smaller, autonomous institutions called in-district charter or pilot…

The Goals 2000 Act creates a framework for establishing high academic and skill standards. Offers ideas and suggestions for creating a community or school strategy to reach the National Education Goals. Lists key questions that require answers and ways that central office staff members can provide assistance to the local school site. (MLF)

In educational reform, the nation appears to be pursuing two distinct and possibly incompatible strategies for change. One approach is based on the philosophy of "a Nation at Risk" and has resulted in a standards-driven educational agenda. Critics of this model advocate a bottom-up, more learner-centered approach. (SLD)

This report summarizes the findings and presents data from a nationwide survey conducted by the Texas Education Network (TENET) from July 25 to September 30, 1994. In response to a TENET questionnaire, representatives from 46 of the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs reported on the status of telecommunications networks…