Getting an Education - The National Education Goals Panel

Because of concern that American youth were falling behind young people in other industrialized countries in educational achievement, the National Education Goals Panel was created in 1989 to oversee the progress of six national goals adopted by the states in a 1990 meeting of governors. The panel set these goals to be achieved by 2000:

1. All children in America will start school ready to learn.
2. The high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90%.
3. Students will leave grades four, eight, and twelve having demonstrated competency in English, mathematics, science, history, and geography.
4. American students will be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement.
5. Every adult American will be literate and possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

FIGURE 6.5

• 6. Every school in America will be free of drugs and violence and offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.

Expressing the nation's continued concern, Congress passed the Goals 2000: Educate America Act (PL 103–227) in 1994. The act reemphasized the National Education Goals and added two more goals for teacher and parental involvement:

1. The nation's teaching force will have access to programs for continued improvement of their professional skills.
2. Every school will promote partnerships to increase parental involvement and participation in the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.

Progress of the Goals

In its last completed progress report in 1999, the National Education Goals Panel noted advances in the following areas:

• The proportion of infants born with health risks declined.
• The percentage of two-year-olds fully immunized increased.
• The percentage of families reading and telling stories to their children increased.
• The gap in preschool attendance between high- and low-income families decreased.
• The percentages of students proficient in reading rose in grade eight, of students proficient in mathematics rose in grades four, eight, and twelve, and the proportion of college degrees awarded in mathematics and science increased for all students—including minorities and female.
• The percentage of students who reported being threatened or injured at school decreased.

Areas the National Education Goals Panel reported as disappointing were:

• The percentage of secondary school teachers with a degree in their main teaching assignment declined.
• The percentage of students reporting illicit drug use increased.
• The percentage of students reporting that someone offered to sell or give them drugs at school increased.
• The percentage of public school teachers reporting they were threatened or injured at school increased.
• There was a higher percentage of disruptions in classrooms of secondary school teachers.

The Decommissioning of the National Education Goals Panel

Although the original authorization of the National Education Goals Panel was set for the decade 1990–2000, a 1999 task force on the future of the panel and goals recommended it be reauthorized. However, the passage of

TABLE 6.6

Ages for compulsory school attendance; special education services for students; policies for kindergarten programs; and year-round schools, by state, 1997 and 2000
			Year-round schools, 2000		Provision of kindergarten education, 2000
	Compulsory attendene, 2000	Compulsory special, education services 19971	Has policy on year-arround schools	Has districtus with year-round schools	School districts required to offer		Attendance required
State					Half day	Full day	Half day	Full day
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Alabama	7 to 16	6 to 21		X		X		X
Alaska	7 to 16	3 to 22		X
Arizona	26 to 16	3 to 22	X	X	X		X
Arkansas	35 to 17	5 to 21	X	X		X		X
California	46 to 18	Birth to 21	X	X	X
Colorado	–	3 to 21		X
Connecticut	7 to 16	5Under 21			X
Delaware	65 to 16	3 to 20			X
District of Columbia	–	–	–	–	–	X		X
Florida	6 to 18	–	X	X		X		X
Georgia	6 to 16	5Under 21		X		X
Hawaii	6 to 18	Under 20	X	X
Idaho	7 to 16	3 to 21		X
Illinois	7 to 16	3 to 21	X	X	7X
Indiana	7 to 16	3 to 22		X	X
Iowa	86 to 16	Under 21	X	X	7X
Kansas	97 to 18	(10)
Kentucky	116 to 16	Under 21	X	X	X
Louisiana	7 to 17	3 to 21		X
Maine	7 to 17	125 to 19		X
Maryland	5 to 16	Under 21		X	X		X
Massachusetts	6 to 16	3 to 21			X
Michigan	6 to 16	Under 26
Minnesota	137 to 18	Under 22	X	X	7X
Mississippi	6 to 17	Birth to 20				X
Missouri	7 to 16	Under 21		X	7X
Montana	147 to 16	3 to 18			X
Nebraska	7 to 16	Birth to 21
Nevada	7 to 17	Under 22	X	X	X
New Hampshire	6 to 16	3 to 21
New Jersey	6 to 16	5 to 21		X
New Mexico	5 to 18	(15)		X	X		X
New York	166 to 16	Under 21
North Carolina	7 to 16	5 to 20	X	X		X
North Dakota	7 to 16	173 to 20				18X
Ohio	6 to 18	Under 22		X	7X		X
Oklahoma	5 to 18	193 and up	X		X		X
Oregon	7 to 18	3 to 21		X	X
Pennsylvania	8 to 17	6 to 21	X	X	X
Rhode Island	6 to 16	3 to 21			X		X
South Carolina	5 to 16	3 to 21		X		X		X
South Dakota	6 to 16	Under 21				18X
Tennessee	6 to 17	3 to 21		X	X		X
Texas	6 to 18	203 to 21	X	X		18X
Utah	6 to 18	3 to 22	X	X	X		X

the No Child Left Behind Act in January 2002 repealed the panel's authorization, and it officially shut down in early 2002.