A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Progress of Education in the United States of America - 1990 through 1994

PART III EDUCATION REFORM 1990-1994

Conclusion

The establishment of the six original National Education Goals has enabled the Nation for the first time in its history to develop standards of performance for all schools and to measure progress toward the achievement of those standards. This edition of Progress of Education in the United States of America is a preliminary report on the success of the reform movement. Clearly, the Nation has not yet developed all the instruments and benchmarks necessary to track the dynamics of the current system. Nor has it had the time to set standards of measurement of progress for the two new Goals adopted in 1994. The task of self-improvement is significantly complicated by the fact that methods of evaluation must be invented at the same time that solutions to the problems are being devised. Yet time does not permit a more leisurely and sequential way of proceeding.

However, already the pace of reform is quickening, even as standards and tests are falling into place. In two years -- halfway to the year 2000 -- we should know a great deal more about how far we've come and how far we've yet to go. Indeed, the next volume of Progress of Education in the United States of America should tell educators with some degree of certainty whether or not the National Education Goals are realistic and attainable.

[Part III - Goals 4-6]

[Part IV - Selected Recent Studies of U.S. Education]