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

Section II: Overview of the Seven Priorities

An emphasis on all students' reaching more challenging education standards builds on work done over the past eight years. The eight National Goals, the initial six of which were endorsed in 1989 by then-President Bush and then-Governor Clinton, a lead governor at the education summit in Charlottesville, Virginia, marked an historic turning point in education by calling for all American students to "demonstrate competency over challenging subject matter" in the major academic areas and to be "first in the world in math and science." In 1994, Congress reinforced the National Goals by adding two additional goals and passing three major pieces of K-12 legislation --the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the School to Work Opportunities Act and the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act. All three laws support the efforts of states and communities to develop challenging content standards and help all students achieve to those standards.

As a result of these various efforts, the vast majority of states now have developed or adopted content standards describing what students should know and be able to do.⁽¹⁾ Many states are in the process of developing assessments aligned with their standards, and thousands of communities in all 50 states are participating in grassroots efforts to raise educational standards, funded by Goals 2000 and state and foundation sources. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Education has forged a new, supportive partnership with states and communities to improve student academic achievement across the nation. Significantly, the time-lag in passing this legislation and securing and distributing funding means the full fruits of the Department's new legislation may not even be realized until the last few years of this decade. Overall, particularly in elementary schools, there still seems to have been progress. On the 1997 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), American fourth graders scored near the very top in science in the world and well above average in math, confirming other achievement data showing better performance in the early grades.

Despite these successes, some evidence suggests our nation is still not expecting enough from its students. Many states are adopting standards that are not challenging enough. For example, a recent study by the Southern Regional Education Board shows that far more students scored at the 'proficient level' on state assessments than on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) national assessment. This suggests that state standards are still not high enough. Moreover, states with challenging standards are often not implementing them in classrooms in ways that reshape everyday teaching and learning. While the nation's most disadvantaged students --such as low-income inner city and rural youth --bear the brunt of lower standards, far too many students across all communities and schools are not achieving at levels that will prepare them for the challenges of today and tomorrow.

As individuals, families and the nation confront an increasingly knowledge-driven, skills-based economy, mastering challenging content and skills has never been more important. As the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future explains, "there has been no previous time in history when the success, indeed the survival, of nations and people has been tied so tightly to their ability to learn. Today's society has little room for those who cannot read, write and compute proficiently; find and use resources; frame and solve problems; and continually learn new technologies, skills and occupations. The economy of high wage jobs for low-skilled workers is fast disappearing." ⁽²⁾ The seven priorities are designed to focus the attention of the U.S. Department of Education on a coordinated strategy for helping all children to obtain these critical proficiencies and be prepared to go to college and learn for a lifetime.

Focusing on Improving Results: Priorities One Through Three -- Reading, Mathematics and Access to College

Research shows that fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math are critical transition points in a child's educational success. For example, American schools typically stop teaching reading around fourth grade and start expecting students to read to learn science, social studies and literature. Children who do not read by the fourth grade thus have great difficulty in other subjects, and often end up being placed in special education, being retained in a grade, or dropping out of school. ⁽³⁾ The ability to read independently by the fourth grade is absolutely critical to a student's future success.

Mastery of challenging math is equally important for long-term education and job success. Students who have been taught challenging mathematics by eighth grade typically have the opportunity to continue mathematics in the college-bound track in high school. On the other hand, those who do not receive the fundamentals in algebra and geometry by the end of eighth grade are often placed in the non-college-bound math track. This often leads to placement in the "general track" in other courses and limited options for college and careers. ⁽⁴⁾ For low-income children, this is especially problematic. For example, students who have completed geometry and chemistry are far more likely to go to college than those who do not take those courses. Significantly, these differences are even more pronounced for low-income students. ⁽⁵⁾

In his State of the Union speech, President Clinton proposed a new, voluntary reading test for fourth-grade students and a voluntary math test for eighth graders to motivate improvements in reading and math across the country. These tests are designed to inform parents and teachers about how their children are achieving compared to rigorous standards, no matter where they live. By providing clear measures of performance relative to national standards, these tests can help the public and educators understand better challenging standards and high quality student work. The Department believes these challenging tests -- supported by the President -- will motivate the nation to expand opportunities for children to learn to read well by the end of third grade or by fourth grade and to learn challenging mathematics by the eighth grade.

Priority three reflects the increasing importance of postsecondary education for full participation in the knowledge-driven economy of the 21st century. Research demonstrates that completing two or four years of college has become the fault line between those who will prosper in the new economy and those who will not. Thus, both our individual and national security will depend on expanding the number of students gaining a far higher level of skills than a high school education affords. Moreover, evidence suggests that students who believe they have the opportunity to attend college will work harder and aspire higher in both middle and high school. Such behaviors and attitudes can profoundly affect the quality of K-12 schooling as well. The U.S. Department of Education will concentrate on giving low-income, working and middle-income families more opportunities to pay and save for college and helping make the K-12 curricula more challenging to help students prepare academically for college.

Key Strategies for Reaching those Results: Priorities Four Through Seven

Meeting these seven priorities requires action on all fronts. Teachers and other educators will have to raise their expectations and concentrate on enhancing their skills to teach to far more challenging standards. Businesses and other employers will have to become more involved partners with the schools. They can, for example, promote strong school-to-work, work-study and apprenticeship programs, help install technology in classrooms, and exert pressure for higher standards by asking job applicants for their diploma and school transcripts. Parents will have to demand more from their children's schools and become more involved in their children's education, both at home and school. Parent involvement, in fact, is not singled out as one of the seven priorities because it is an overarching goal that will affect the success of each of the seven priorities. Students will have to work harder and accept greater responsibility for their success or failure. Finally, the U.S. Department of Education must reexamine all of its programs to ensure that they most effectively contribute to the priorities.

For each priority, the Department will use a range of nonlegislative strategies to complement its legislative initiatives. These strategies include using the bully pulpit to engage the public in education improvement, brokering partnerships across all sectors and providing educators, parents and the public far more information and research on best practices. Over the past few years, the Department has used such strategies with increasing frequency to mobilize public involvement and achieve a better balance among regulation, flexibility, and incentives. As Section III of this document illustrates, the Department plans to continue to use such strategies to help generate and sustain major public involvement in support of its critical priority areas. Disseminating examples of high-quality student work, working with schools of education to strengthen their teacher preparation in mathematics, calling on college students to serve as reading tutors, providing parents more information about financial options for college --all are examples of nonlegislative strategies being pursued by the Department to advance its education improvement agenda. At the same time, the Department and Administration will continue to focus their budgetary requests to Congress, their discretionary grant priorities and their legislative initiatives on these high priority items.

Ensuring Equity and Excellence for All Students

Each priority can be a leverage point for addressing issues of equity and excellence. For example, ensuring that all children can read independently by the end of third grade may be one of the most important equity concerns today. This equity goal depends on raising expectations for all children, as well as the quality of the curricula and teaching they receive. While algebra and geometry act as gatekeepers to the entire spectrum of more challenging college preparatory courses, well over 80 percent of African-American and Latino students in the U.S. do not take those courses by the end of eighth grade. In addition, although technology affords great opportunities for dramatically increasing quality and equality, it too can increase inequity if it is distributed unequally or if only some teachers gain the expertise needed to help their students use it. The seven priorities are designed to harness the resources of the Department and the nation to maximize both equity and excellence so that every person has the opportunity to participate to his or her full potential in the economy and society of the 21st century.

Your comments on this document are invited, please send them to 7priorities@ed.gov.

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