The phrase "higher standards" has become a rallying cry for avid school reformers and politicians alike. A broad coalition of constituencies have embraced standards-based reform as a means of improving public schools' accountability, preparing a globally competitive work force, and decreasing the achievement gap among various racial ethnic groups. Equally vocal groups are arguing that the tough standards movement is flunking too many students and detracting from classroom learning. This report offers a snapshot of the standards movement: its origins, its successes at the district and state levels, the backlash against the movement, and possible policy directions.

The 1994 reauthorization of ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act), along with the passage of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, established a new approach to federal support for education by focusing on a framework of standards-based reform. This report reviews a public school survey on education reform and explores the influence of standards on school performance.

This document serves as a blueprint for President George Bush's plan for education reform. In it you will find out how the administration plans to increase accountability, focus on what works, empower parents, reduce bureaucracy and increase flexibility. Achieving Equality Through High Standards and Accountability, the first section of the report, attempts to illustrate how the federal government can, and must, help close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their peers.

The Consortium for Equity in Standards and Testing (CTEST) focuses attention on how educational standards, assessments, and tests can be used more fairly. Testing in the News: Presents articles on testing and equity issues drawn from major newspapers around the nation. Provides documents, news articles, and links to headline issues in testing.

This policy guide shows how states and districts can set a policy context for high expectations and success through set standards, how schools can prevent and intervene to reduce school failure, and how these strategies can be sustained through ongoing support for school improvement. The guide concludes with an inventory of federal resources available to help states, districts, and schools end social promotion.

The NEGP Monthly reports state and local practices identified by policy makers in states making the most improvement or achieving at the highest levels on one or more indicators related to the National Education Goals.

This document includes highlights from a report on school-level implementation of standards-based reform and Title I provisions supporting such reform.

This document reveals the results from a survey taken of principals on the school-level implementation of standards-based reform and Title I provisions supporting such reform.

This report provides information for improving the performance of schools with significant at-risk student populations. It contains information about 27 school reform models that have received support for development, expansion, adaptation, or evaluation through the Institute's research program. Each model description gives a fairly in-depth view of what is required for a school to implement the model and identifies contact persons and other sources that may be accessed for additional information.

This report serves as part of ED's effort to provide information to schools, school districts, states, and others as they plan and implement comprehensive school reform programs.

This guide serves as a "roadmap" to connect people with resources and to assist them in negotiating the often complex maze of drug control programming and grant requirements.

A look at how Goals 2000 supports State efforts to develop clear and rigorous standards for what every child should know and be able to do, and supports comprehensive state- and district-wide planning and implementation of school improvement efforts focused on improving student achievement to meet those standards.

This report explores how skills standards are being integrated into schools and recommends the types of collaborations that need to occur for these standards to become effective.

Recommendations for substance abuse prevention programming from the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

This report, from the Improving America's School: A Newsletter on Issues in School Reform newsletter, reviews the prevailing definitions of the concept of standards.

This report, from Improving America's Schools: A Newsletter on Issues in School Reform, reviews the processes some states are using to develop their own content and student performance standards.

Describes how States, school districts, and schools can link ESEA programs with each other, with Goals 2000, and with State and local programs to support coherent school reform efforts that raise achievement of all students.

Here are abstracts of projects to develop state curriculum frameworks and content standards, which the Department supported (beginning in 1992) through a competitive process. These abstracts are a resource for states and local school districts.

Exemplary public and private school teachers discuss changes needed in education if the National Education Goals are to be achieved.