This article is the third of three on "Sources of Authority in Education." All use the work of Amy Gutmann as a heuristic device to describe and explain the prevalence of market-based models of education reform in the US and the business-influenced Global Education Reform Movement. The other two are "Negating Amy Gutmann:…

The aim of this essay is to advance understandings of current efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries, with a specific focus on the macro-level policy contexts of improvement research in education. In the US, earlier analyses examined these policy contexts from a…

In the United States, as public demands for quality teachers have escalated, there has been a corresponding increase in national policy efforts to tie the standards of student success to teacher preparation, licensing, and evaluation. This conceptual paper examines how national authorities used specific policy tools to usurp the state's…

Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

This paper describes a project that examined the six national education goals established by the National Governor's Association in 1990 and then included in the Goals 2000 Educate America Act. As part of a graduate seminar, 20 classroom teachers and 1 student teacher undertook to determine if these goals were attainable and how they could best be…

This compilation of information on the U.S. Department of Education's support programs, publications, and services to teachers, provides a description and location within the Department for each program, and serves as a reference for specific needs and questions. A review of the national education goals and the Goals 2000 program procedes the main…

This document consists of the 11 issues of this brief newsletter issued between April 1993 and May 1994. The newsletter provides information to help schools and communities to reach the National Education Goals. Each issue contains reports on monthly satellite town meetings focused on specific goals or issues; topics to be discussed in upcoming…

On March 31, 1993, President Clinton signed into law the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. The Goals 2000 Act sets educational improvement and participation as national priorities to be achieved through local and state ingenuity, not federal control. This document offers general information on the Act and provides questions to help educators and…

Addresses several issues related to federal policy and reform. Discusses the possible role of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act in promoting better outcomes for students with disabilities, and other federal policy options for achieving better educational outcomes. Argues for federal policies that balance centralized regulation and accountability…

During 1993-94, the U.S. Congress passed several initiatives that offer great potential for facilitating progress in education. These include: (1) The Goals 2000: Educate America Act; (2) Individual Education Accounts; (3) the Family Involvement Initiative; (4) the Safe Schools Act (as part of Goals 2000); (5) the School-to-Work Opportunities Act;…

The Goals 2000: Educate America Act seeks to improve student achievement through high expectations for all; increase parent and community involvement in education; make schools safe, drug-free, and disciplined; upgrade teacher training and professional development; bring technology into the schools; support long-term and systemwide efforts; and…

Examines the implications of Goals 2000, opportunity-to-learn standards, assessment accommodations, and accountability for identifying and promoting educational outcomes for students with disabilities. Discusses outcome-based education and outcome-based assessment and presents some consequences of the most current reform efforts for special and…

Traces the origins and development of the National Standards for Arts Education. Discusses the long-term effects the national standards might have on preservice and inservice teacher education. Questions whether national standards might lead to a standardization in arts education that would hamper teacher and student creativity. (CFR)