ERIC Number: ED409651
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1995-Aug
Pages: 55
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Education Reform, 1994-1995. A Report from the Educational Excellence Network to Its Education Policy Committee and the American People.
Finn, Chester E., Jr.; Ravitch, Diane
This report evaluates major developments in American education and federal education policy for the year 1994-95. Part 1 focuses on efforts to improve student achievement. It examines National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data and assigns the national public schools the grade of C+ in mathematics achievement and a D in reading achievement. Part 2 explains why the American education system receives a C+ for its progress toward developing national standards, with a focus on Goals 2000 and the efforts of state and communities to set their own educational standards. The third part examines progress toward the reinvention of education, as distinguished from systemic reform. The growing popularity of charter schools, school choice, contract management of public schools, and changes in governance merit the education system a B, despite continued obstruction by teachers' unions. Part 4 argues that legislation in the form of Goals 2000 and the "Improving America's Schools Act" (HR 6) has given increased power to the federal government. The nation therefore receives the grade of "incomplete" for progress made toward reforming the federal role. Federal policy shows signs of change, but no conclusive action has occurred on the following four fronts: (1) efforts to repeal some of the perceived excesses of recent legislation; (2) bills to abolish the Education Department or merge it with other agencies; (3) proposals to devolve control of education decision-making; and (4) budget wars. (LMI)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Charter Schools, Decentralization, Educational Improvement, Educational Policy, Elementary Secondary Education, Federal Government, Federal Regulation, Government Role, Government School Relationship, Mathematics Achievement, Performance, Politics of Education, Reading Achievement, School Choice, School Restructuring
Hudson Institute, P.O. Box 26-919, Indianapolis, IN 46226.
Publication Type: Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Hudson Inst., Indianapolis, IN.
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Goals 2000; Improving Americas Schools Act 1994
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A