This report summarizes changes to existing federal education programs contained in the Improving America's Schools Act, the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. The publication looks at various programs that serve the broad educational priorities set forth in the Department of Education's Strategic Plan. The findings are grouped around a series of 11 questions such as the following: How well are students doing? Are federal regulation programs helping to prepare children for school? Are federal programs helping states develop and implement standards? Are federal programs contributing to greater choice in public schools? Are federal laws promoting flexibility and accountability for results? The report concludes that reform is headed in the right direction, though states are still in the process of implementing reforms. Even though federal programs supported and stimulated state-based reform and states have made significant progress in developing content standards, progress is considerably slower with respect to developing performance standards and aligned assessments. Based on the lack of evidence of when states have benchmarked standards against outside criteria, there is variability in the rigor of standards. The findings suggest that the reform efforts are producing changes in classrooms, with students making significant progress since the 1994 reauthorization. (RJM)