Is Goals 2000 about to get the ax? That's what Republican budget cutters are telling us, but we will be making a big mistake if we let that happen. Goals 2000 has been in operation for only one year, and it is already taking hold across the country. If it goes, we will lose an important chance to reform our education system and raise the achievement of all our students.
Goals 2000 is designed to improve education by encouraging states to create education systems similar to the successful systems in other countries. That means setting high and clear standards for what all students should know in core academic subjects, designing curriculums and assessments based on those standards, and establishing consequences for students that will make school count.
Goals 2000 provides the states, which are responsible for education, with financial incentives to fashion their own world-class standards.
A new study by the AFT, "Making Standards Matter: A SO-State Progress Report on Efforts to Raise Academic Standards," offers the first nationwide data on what states are doing and what their standards look like. The report asked a number of questions:
* Which states are developing academic standards?
* What about their quality? Are they based in core subjects -- like English, math, science, and history? Are they clear and specific enough to guide districts in setting up good curriculums and assessments? Have states looked at what other countries expect of their students?
* Are states developing assessment systems to find out whether students are meeting the standards?
* Will the standards have teeth? Which states plan to make them count for students, and in what way?