During the past four years, the "education reform movement" in the United States has made significant progress, though much remains to be done. In 1989, as reported in Progress of Education in the United States of America: 1984 Through 1989, President George Bush invited the Nation's 50 Governors to an Education Summit, where a remarkable consensus emerged concerning the state of U.S. education and the need for a national strategy to remedy its deficiencies.
Following the Summit, the Nation's Governors, in cooperation with the White House and the Congress, adopted six National Education Goals to guide Federal, State, and local authorities in devising plans for the overall improvement of the system. The development of these Goals was a bipartisan effort that was generally applauded by the Nation's educators and its ors and its citizens.
At that point leaders at every level of the education system began to consider a number of specific strategies to achieve the Goals. At the Federal level, the Bush Administration proposed AMERICA 2000, its specific recommendations for systemic reform. At the State level, a number of educators and agencies began to rethink old approaches and devise new ones. And at the local level, superintendents, principals, and teachers, sensing a new freedom, began to experiment with innovative ways of motivatin g and instructing students. When President Clinton took office in January of 1993, he appointed Richard W. Riley, a former Governor known for his bold initiatives in school reform, as Secretary of Education; and within weeks after the inauguration, the Clinton Administration had introduced its own innovative strategy for systemic educational reform throughout the Nation--Goals 2000: Educate America. This Act, together with the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, greatly accelerated the reform movement. T he whole Nation had finally accepted the proposition that education in the United States would change and change for the better.
This report is, in part, the story of the years during which the Nation has begun a conscious and concerted effort to revitalize its schools and do a better job of educating its youngsters. Of course, in order to reach this point, Americans had to acknowledge the shortcomings of the current education system--comparing U.S. achievement with that of other nations. This self-examination has been a sobering experience, as reflected in some of the studies and statistics chronicled in this report.
On the other hand, there are signs even now that the reform movement is taking hold, that our schools are beginning to improve, and--more importantly, perhaps--that some of the innovative programs produced by the spirit of reform are successful and will soon be ready for replication in the system as a whole. Many reforms at the State and local levels have been bold, all-encompassing, and ingenious. In States like Kentucky and in cities like Edmonds, the past has been swept aside with an impatience, and an entirely new way of operating schools established in its place. While the final verdict is not in on such innovations, they show every promise of effecting vast improvements in systems that were in danger of collapse.
In addition to a general summary, this report will concentrate on these innovative strategies as well as on individual programs developed by master educators. Included will be specific details of reform efforts at the national, State, and local levels, as well as details of legislative initiatives by two national administrations.
Part II presents new national education data for the past four years and summarizes major Federal legislation passed during that time.
Part III outlines the most recent developments in the ongoing effort to restructure and revitalize U.S. education. This section is divided into three parts: (1) an examination of actions taken at the federal, State, and local levels; (2) an assessment of success in the mission of the American education system to guarantee equal access to education by all citizens; and (3) a measurement of progress toward the fulfillment of the National Education Goals.
Part IV gives an annotated list of selected books, articles, and reports prepared or published during the period from 1990 to 1994. This bibliography should provide interested scholars with enough resources to understand what has happened in United States education since 1989.
Many units of the U.S. Department of Education have provided information and advice for this report. Primary among these are: Planning and Evaluation Service of the Office of the Under Secretary, headed by Alan Ginsburg; the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, headed by Sharon Robinson; and the National Center for Education Statistics, headed by Emerson J. Elliott.
Those who have been especially helpful in gathering data are: Val Plisko and Nelson Ashline of the Office of the Under Secretary, Steve Sniegoski of the office of Educational Research and Improvement, and Tom Snyder of the National Center for Education Statistics. This publication, in part an update of Progress of Education in the United States: 1984 through 1989, was written by Thomas Landess, International and Territorial Services Staff, directed by Stewart Tinsman.
-###-
[Part I - Background]