When President Clinton signed Goals 2000: Educate America Act into law earlier this month, not many people noticed. Americans were understandably preoccupied with events in Bosnia, and the press was busy getting maximum mileage out of Whitewater. That's too bad because this is the most significant piece of education legislation we've ever had.
Goals 2000 sets up a framework for establishing high and clear national standards for what students should know and be able to do, assessments based on those standards and, eventually, consequences for achievement so that everyone will know that school counts. In other words, the law proposes an academically focused education system, like the successful systems in other industrialized nations. It also provides money and guidance to states that wish to set up their own voluntary standards and assessments and to districts to assist them in tooling up to help students meet the standards.
The Clinton administration conducted a heroic fight to prevent the legislation from being amended beyond recognition. For example, although high academic standards that apply to all students lead to greater equity, as we can see from systems in France, Germany and Japan, some groups maintained that such standards would be unfair to disadvantaged youngsters. Their solution was to rewrite the legislation so academic standards would kick in only after all schools were given equal resources. These "opportunity-to-learn" standards would, in effect, have put off establishing academic standards for the foreseeable future. And they would have hurt the very youngsters they proposed to help by dooming them to continue with the same intellectual gruel they now get.
But the passage of Goals 2000 is the beginning of an effort, not the end. The legislation creates a process for mobilizing people concerned with education -- officials at federal, state and local levels, teachers and other professional groups and parents. It gives these people a framework for talking about what our students should know and be able to do and for creating standards and assessments that mirror their decisions. Whether Goals 2000 achieves its aims will depend on the quality of their efforts -- and how successful they are at dealing with the many challenges they'll face.
Undoubtedly, there will be attempts by various groups either to take over the education standards or derail the process of reaching them. Imagine what a concerted effort by people who believe that victimization is the main theme of American history -- or those who insist on "scientific" creationism in biology and geology -- could do to the setting of standards in these fields. The idea of "competency in challenging subject matter" is central to Goals 2000, but there will be attempts to introduce fuzzy standards instead of clear and rigorous ones. Indeed, much of what goes under the name of "outcomes-based education" (OBE) consists of vague statements masquerading as standards. A number of states that have already adopted OBE are evaluating student achievement with standards that give students, teachers and the public no clue as to what's expected -- one state outcome asks students to "create products and make presentations that convey concepts and feelings."
Some groups will propose standards that are unrealistic -- like the arts-education standards that recently appeared. It's true that the arts are sadly neglected in most schools these days, but it's ridiculous to create standards that call for youngsters graduating from high school to "compose music in several distinct styles" and "choreograph a duet demonstrating an understanding of choreographic principles, processes, and structures." Most youngsters don't have that kind of talent -- or interest. A wish list is not the same thing as a set of standards.
Or standards might be impossible because there is not enough time to achieve them. High school students take American history 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for a year -- two at the most. Those setting standards have to make choices about what to include and what to leave out. But people don't like to make tough decisions, and the danger here is that they will throw in more than teachers can possibly teach, or youngsters absorb.
And when Goals 2000 does result in clear, high standards for our students and assessments reflecting these standards, it will probably face legal challenges based on the idea that some kids have not had an opportunity to learn.
Goals 2000, in and of itself, won't solve the problems of our education system, but it provides a structure without which we can't begin to solve them. As mistakes are made -- and they will be -- we should realize that other countries with successful education systems did not achieve excellence in a day. They worked for generations, and we, too, must be prepared to revise and rework our ideas, perhaps many times. Now, at least, the framework is in place. We can get started and, if we are wise, make major progress.
Lots of people have talked about world-class standards, but President Clinton has crafted and passed a piece of legislation that can help us achieve them. Goals 2000 is a major accomplishment.