Why National Standards and Tests Politics and the Quest for Better Schools [Hardcover]

The common view today is that state schools are not good enough, and that something must be done to make them better. Setting academic standards is one way to raise the educational achievment of students. Jennings gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at how congress and the Executive Branch have wrestled with this issue, and reviews the major debates about whether or not there should be testable national standards for all American schools.The common view today is that state schools are not good enough, and that something must be done to make them better. Setting academic standards is one way to raise the educational achievment of students. Jennings gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at how congress and the Executive Branch have wrestled with this issue, and reviews the major debates about whether or not there should be testable national standards for all American schools.The Need to Improve the Schools
Why Raising Student Achievement through Higher Standards Was First Proposed
Origins of National Standards and Tests
How President Bush, Corporate Leaders and the Governors First Advanced the Idea of Raising Standards
The 1992 Presidential Campaign and the Transition to a New Administration
How Bush and Clinton Differed on Education, but How Clinton Continued the Fight for Higher Standards That Bush Began
Goals 2000 in the US House of Representatives
How Liberals Expressed Concerns About the Fairness of Standards, and How Conservative Opposition to the Idea Grew
Goals 2000 in the Senate and the Conference Committee
How the Concept of Raising Standards Triumphed, but Only after Liberal Concerns about Equity Lost and Increasingly Strident Conservative Opposition Was Overcome
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act
How Other Federal Programs Were Refashioned to Raise Standards, and How This Victory Further Hardened thlÓg