April 21, 1994 ************************************ THE GOALS 2000: EDUCATE AMERICA ACT ************************************ When President Clinton placed his signature on the Goals 2000: Educate America Act on March 31, 1994, he did more than just sign into law this innovative and comprehensive program to improve education. It became the day that America got serious about education. His action commenced the current phase of an about-face in education that began eleven years ago after the discouraging report "A Nation At Risk" was issued, which described a "rising tide of mediocrity" in American education. Three times in the last six years, Congress has attempted to pass education reform legislation and each time it has been unable to resolve its differences. The strong bipartisan support for Goals 2000 demonstrates that we are ready to move from "a nation at risk" to a nation on the move. The enactment of Goals 2000 is the beginning of a new era in school and education reform -- a revolutionary, all-inclusive plan to change every aspect of our education system, while at the same time aligning its individual parts with one another. It offers an opportunity for those concerned with the state of American education to become involved in the implementation of real change and improvement of our nation's education system, working at the local community and state levels. And it will create and improve learning opportunities for everyone from pre-school to those who return to school. By generating enthusiasm in schools and states throughout this nation, it will create thousands of community-based reform efforts, each working for the betterment of our educational system, and each allowing every school and every student to be the best they can be -- to learn to world-class standards. Goals 2000 will move the nation toward a system that is based on high standards that all students can meet -- a system that will provide both equity and excellence for all of the students in this country. When we fail to hold all students to high standards, the results are low achievement and the tragic experience of children leaving school without ever having been challenged to fulfill their potential. High standards lets everyone in the education system know what to aim for. It allows every student, every parent, and every teacher to share in common expectations of what students should know and be able to accomplish. Students will learn more when more is expected of them, in school and at home. And, aligning teacher education, instructional materials, assessment practices, and parental involvement, will create coherence in educational practice. The American people have said they are ready to move from the old assembly line version of education to a better way of educating their children. They want their children to be part of the new, emerging high-tech, high- knowledge economy of the 21st century. By transforming the national education goals into a policy for which committed people across our nation can work, President Clinton has helped to ensure that the future of this nation will remain strong and secure and that its citizens will be able to compete and prosper in this new global economic era that is already upon us. Since early in our history, the public education system of this nation has been a magnet and a model for people throughout the world who yearn to make something better of their lives. It is a beacon of light across the globe, a symbol of our democratic and egalitarian traditions. Unfortunately, in recent years, this standard has slipped; the beacon has dimmed. That is why the Goals 2000 law is so important, as well as the subsequent enactment of additional education reform legislation like the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, and the revolutionary reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act, both of which are designed to dovetail with Goals 2000. Each of these important changes in the law will offer federal assistance in implementing local education reform...help that is designed to assist, but not interfere with the traditional local character of education. It has been nearly thirty years since this nation has seen the kind of reform in education that Goals 2000 offers. It is up to us to ensure that we maximize the opportunities this law offers us and work to guarantee a challenging education for every student. For the future of our children and our nation, it is the least we can do. . . April 6, 1994 *************************************** THE GOALS 2000: EDUCATE AMERICA ACT A STRATEGY FOR REINVENTING OUR SCHOOLS *************************************** American education is in crisis. Our schools are not meeting the needs of students or the demands of our economy for a more skilled, more adaptable work force. And many vocational education and job training programs don't equip beginning or experienced workers with the skills needed for success in the workplace. Without comprehensive education reform across America, our nation's economic strength is in jeopardy. Recognizing this peril, a large majority of the American people have called for a dramatic overhaul of our nation's public school system. President Clinton's program for change -- the Goals 2000: Educate America Act -- will help to reform our schools dramatically by establishing high academic and occupational standards and providing support to states and communities to help students reach those standards. A PLAN THAT WILL WORK ********************* The Goals 2000: Educate America Act is not an experiment; it incorporates the lessons of education reform from communities and states in the 1980s. * First, raising standards and making course content more challenging really works. When more is expected of students, they work harder and achieve more. When employees know what skills they need to succeed on the job, they will work to achieve them. * Second, we must change our expectations of teachers. They cannot teach to new standards using the same old ways. We must overhaul teacher training and make continuing professional development an integral part of their job. * Third, accountability is essential. Schools must be given the tools and the flexibility they need to get the job done and then be held accountable for the results they achieve. There must be real rewards for high performance and significant consequences for failure. * Fourth, schools can't do the job alone. Parents, businesses, families, community organizations, and public and private agencies that provide health care, counseling, family support and other social services must be part of community-wide efforts to support students. * Fifth, in an economy in which what you earn depends on what you learn, learning must never end. Schools, colleges and employers must work together with local, state and federal governments to make lifelong learning a reality for all employees. The Goals 2000: Educate America Act incorporates and builds on these lessons of the last decade and creates a historic new partnership in which parents, schools, teachers, business and labor leaders, the states, and the federal government all work together to educate all students. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LEGISLATION ***************************** The Goals 2000: Educate America Act will: * Set in law the original six National Education Goals -- concerning school readiness, school completion, student academic achievement, leadership in math and science, adult literacy, and safe and drug-free schools -- and add two new goals related to parental participation and professional development; * Develop and adopt -- for the first time -- challenging national performance standards that define what all students should know and be able to do in core subject areas such as science, math, history, English, geography, foreign languages and the arts, and support local reform efforts to make those standards a reality in every classroom; * Strengthen and improve teacher training, textbooks, instructional materials, technologies and overall school services so that students will have the tools to achieve higher standards; * Encourage the development of innovative student performance assessments to gauge progress; * Establish a National Skills Standards Board to promote the development of occupational skill standards that will define what workers will need to know and to ensure that American workers are better trained and internationally competitive; and * Increase flexibility for states, school districts and schools by waiving rules and regulations that might impede local reform and improvement. THE NEW NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE ******************************************************* The bill encourages a bottom-up approach to reform. States and local communities will develop their own improvement plans, tailored to their special needs. Business and labor will work together to define the knowledge and skills needed to create secure economic futures for employees and employers alike. The federal government will use its resources to assist local reform efforts and help them implement their improvement plans and will support the development of model standards against which states, communities, schools and individuals can measure their progress. THE FEDERAL ROLE -- Setting High Standards A National Education Standards and Improvement Council (NESIC), comprised of teachers, parents, business groups, civic leaders and others, will be created to: * Review the efforts by national organizations of subject-matter experts to develop voluntary national content and performance standards in each subject area, such as math, science, history, and geography. These will be clear statements of what students should know and be able to do as they progress through school. The standards will be far more rigorous than what is currently expected of students and will be as challenging as those in other countries. * Lead the effort to develop better measures of student progress and performance, measures that really reflect what we expect them to learn. New and promising assessment programs are being developed through the country; NESIC will keep track of changes and encourage those that advance the state of the art. THE STATE ROLE -- Implementing Comprehensive Strategies for Real Improvement Each state choosing to participate will be asked to develop and implement a comprehensive improvement plan that raises standards and helps all students achieve them. Many states have already begun this work, though few have undertaken anything as ambitious as called for in this legislation. Every state will be challenged to participate and to build on local reforms already under way. * States will be asked to form a broad-based and representative leadership team, comprised of policy makers, educators, business and civic leaders, parents and others at the grassroots level. Real and lasting change requires new partnerships working together. * Many states will want to use the national standards as a benchmark for their own efforts. On a voluntary basis, states may submit to NESIC their content and performance standards for certification that they are as rigorous and challenging as national standards. * In no state can all students meet challenging new standards as the schools currently operate. A fundamental overhaul is required. States will develop comprehensive reform plans and implementation strategies that will affect every aspect of the state's education system -- curriculum, technology, teacher training and licensure, parental and community involvement, school management and accountability -- and every local school district and school. THE LOCAL ROLE -- Putting Reform into Action To make a difference, reform has to occur in every school. Local school districts and individual schools also will develop and implement comprehensive improvement plans, reflecting unique local needs and circumstances, in conjunction with the state's efforts. For the first year, $105 million in federal funds is available to implement Goals 2000 with additional funds requested in subsequent years. By the second year of funding, states will be required to use at least 90 percent of their funds to support the development and implementation of reform plans in local school districts. CREATING A WORLD-CLASS WORK FORCE ********************************* American students, workers, employers and educators must know what knowledge and skills are required in the workplace. The bill encourages the development and voluntary adoption of national skill standards and certification. This effort is a critical step in establishing a lifelong learning system for all Americans, including high school students not planning to attend a four-year college, unemployed and dislocated workers, and employed workers who want to upgrade their skills. The standards will allow us to build an education and training system that ties schools, colleges and other postsecondary institutions, other job training providers, and employers together in an effort to create a high-skills, high-wage work force. . . April 6, 1994 ************************************************* GOALS 2000: EDUCATE AMERICA ACT SUPPORTING SYSTEMIC EDUCATION REFORM NATIONWIDE ************************************************* OVERVIEW * Goals 2000 provides resources to states and communities to develop and implement comprehensive education reforms aimed at helping all students reach challenging academic and occupational skill standards. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE * On March 23, the House of Representatives approved the final Goals 2000 bill with a bipartisan vote of 306-121. On March 26, the Senate approved Goals 2000 with a 63-22 vote. * The President signed the bill into law March 31, 1994. TIMETABLE AND FUNDING * Congress has appropriated $105 million for Goals 2000 for fiscal year 1994. First-year funds will be available to the states on July 1, 1994. The President has asked for $700 million in his 1995 budget proposal to be administered by the Department of Education and $12 million for the Department of Labor to support the National Skill Standards Board. * For first-year funding, state educational agencies (SEAs) will be asked to submit an application that will describe the process by which the state will develop a school improvement plan and how the SEA will use the funds received, including how the SEA will make subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) and awards for education preservice programs and professional development. * In year one, SEAs will use at least 60 percent of the allotted funds to award subgrants to LEAs for the development or implementation of local improvement plans, and to make awards for education preservice programs and professional development activities. * In succeeding years, at least 90 percent of each state's funds are to be used to make subgrants for the implementation of the state and local improvement plans and to support educator preservice and professional development. * In year one, LEAs will use at least 75 percent of the funds they receive to support individual school improvement initiatives. After year one, LEAs will pass through at least 85 percent of the funds to schools. COMPONENTS OF THE "GOALS 2000: EDUCATE AMERICA ACT" **************************************************** NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS ************************ * Codifies in law the original six National Education Goals -- concerning school readiness, school completion, student academic achievement, leadership in math and science, adult literacy, and safe and drug-free schools -- and adds two new goals encouraging parental participation and professional development of teachers. NATIONAL EDUCATION REFORM LEADERSHIP, STANDARDS, AND ASSESSMENTS **************************************************************** * Establishes in law the National Education Goals Panel which will: build public support for the goals; report on the nation's progress toward meeting the goals; and review the voluntarily-submitted national content, student performance, and opportunity-to-learn standards, and the criteria for certification of these standards developed by the National Education Standards and Improvement Council (NESIC). * Creates NESIC to examine and certify voluntary national and state content, student performance, and opportunity-to-learn standards, and assessment systems submitted by states and content groups on a voluntary basis. * Authorizes grants to support the development of voluntary model opportunity-to-learn standards as well as assessment systems aligned to state content standards. STATE AND LOCAL EDUCATION SYSTEMIC IMPROVEMENT ********************************************** Title III is a state grant program to support, accelerate, and sustain state and local improvement efforts aimed at helping all students reach challenging academic standards. STATE PLANNING PANEL * The Governor and the Chief State School Officer will each appoint half the members of a broad-based panel comprised of the chair of the state board of education and the chair of the appropriate authorizing committees of the state legislature, teachers, principals, administrators, parents, representatives of business, labor, and higher education, and members of the public. * States that already have a broad-based panel in place that has made substantial progress in developing a plan may request that the Secretary of Education recognize the existing panel. COMPREHENSIVE IMPROVEMENT PLAN * The State Planning Panel is responsible for developing a comprehensive reform plan. * States with reform plans already in place that meet the Act's requirements will not have to develop new plans for Goals 2000. The Secretary may approve plans, or portions of plans, already adopted by the state. * In order to receive Goals 2000 funds after the first year, a state has to have an approved plan or have made substantial progress in developing it. * A peer review process will be used to review the state plans and offer guidance to the State Planning Panel. The Department of Education also will offer other technical assistance and support. IN GENERAL, THE PLANS ARE TO ADDRESS: * Strategies for the development or adoption of content standards, student performance standards, student assessments, and plans for teacher training. * Strategies for providing all students an opportunity to learn at higher academic levels. * Strategies for improved management and governance, and for promoting accountability for results, flexibility, site- based management, and other principles of high-performance management. * Strategies to involve parents and the community in helping all students meet the challenging state standards and for promoting grass roots, bottom-up involvement in reform. * Strategies for ensuring that all local educational agencies and schools in the state are involved in developing and implementing needed improvements. * Strategies for assisting local educational agencies and schools to meet the needs of school-aged students who have dropped out of school. Funds also will be available to states to support the development of a state technology plan, which will be coordinated with the overall reform plan. This plan is to describe how states will use technology to support systemic reform and the achievement of high standards. LOCAL PLANNING PROCESS * LEAs may use Goals 2000 funds to develop or implement a local improvement plan. As is true for the state, LEAs will be asked to develop broad consensus regarding the improvement plan. * LEAs will encourage and assist schools in developing and implementing reforms that best meet their particular needs. The local plan would include strategies for ensuring that all students meet the academic standards developed by the states. NATIONAL SKILL STANDARDS BOARD ****************************** * This title creates a National Skill Standards Board to serve as a catalyst in stimulating the development and adoption of a voluntary national system of occupational skill standards and certification that will serve as a cornerstone of the national strategy to enhance workforce skills. The Board will be responsible for identifying broad clusters of major occupations in the U.S. and facilitating the establishment of voluntary partnerships to develop skill standards for each cluster. The Board will endorse those skill standards submitted by the partnerships that meet certain statutorily prescribed criteria. WAIVERS ******* * State educational agencies (SEAs) may apply to the Secretary of Education for waivers of certain programmatic requirements of Department of Education programs that impede the implementation of the state or local implementation plans. SEAs may also submit waiver requests on behalf of LEAs and schools. * The Secretary may select up to six states for participation in an education flexibility demonstration program, which allows the Secretary to delegate his waiver authority to SEAs. * The Act specifies certain statutory and regulatory programmatic requirements that may not be waived, including civil rights laws. THE RELATIONSHIP OF GOALS 2000 TO OTHER FEDERAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS ********************************************************* * State participation in all aspects of Goals 2000 is voluntary, and is not a precondition for participation in other Federal programs. * Goals 2000 is the first step toward making the Federal government a supportive partner in state and local systemic reforms aimed at helping all children reach higher standards. * Other new and existing education and training programs will fit within the Goals 2000 framework of challenging academic and occupational standards, systemic reform, and flexibility at the state and local levels. The aim is to promote greater coherence among Federal programs and between Federal programs and state and local education reforms. * For example, the pending School-to-Work Opportunities Act will support state and local efforts to build a school-to- work transition system that will help youth acquire the knowledge, skills, abilities, and labor-market information they need to make a smooth transition from school to career- oriented work and to further education and training. Students in these programs will be expected to meet the same academic standards states establish under Goals 2000 and will earn portable, industry-recognized skill certificates that are benchmarked to high-quality standards such as the skill standards that will be established under Goals 2000. * Similarly, the Administration's proposed reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) allows states that have developed standards and assessments under Goals 2000 to use them for the ESEA, thereby providing a single set of standards and assessments for states to use for their reform needs and to meet Federal requirements. * In the future, the Administration's proposals for the reauthorization of education programs also will fit within the same framework of challenging standards and comprehensive reform. revised 4/7/94 **************************** THE NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS **************************** By the Year 2000 -- * ALL CHILDREN in America will start school ready to learn. * THE HIGH SCHOOL graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent. * ALL STUDENTS will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, the arts, history, and geography, and every school in America will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our nation's modern economy. * UNITED STATES students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement. * EVERY ADULT American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. * EVERY SCHOOL in the United States will be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning. * THE NATION'S teaching force will have access to programs for the continued improvement of their professional skills and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare all American students for the next century. * EVERY SCHOOL will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children. ************************************************** WHY WE NEED VOLUNTARY NATIONAL EDUCATION STANDARDS ************************************************* When we think about how to improve our schools, one of the most important questions is: What do we want our children to know and be able to do? Not everyone leaves school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed. Too many of this nation's schools offer students watered-down curricula, inadequate textbooks, and outmoded teaching methods. And we have, until now, often gauged student achievement by the number of courses taken -- not actual learning -- and by scores on multiple-choice tests that often measure little more than low-level skills. The results of international assessments in the 1980s show that the skills and knowledge of American students do not measure up to their international peers. Other developed countries have something we don't: clearly defined high standards. American students can learn more if they are challenged -- both in school and at home. If students and schools are not held to high standards, they will not work hard enough and achieve as much as they can. If their parents don't show them the importance of learning, they may not have the will to learn. WHAT NATIONAL STANDARDS ARE AND HOW THEY'RE BEING SET ***************************************************** National standards will describe what all students should know and be able to do at certain grade levels. The standards will encourage students to use their minds well, to solve problems, to think, and to reason. National standards will provide a focus, not a national curriculum; a national consensus, not federal mandates; voluntary adoption, not mandatory use; and dynamic, not static, applications. Mathematics standards are already in use in many classrooms. National standards in science, history, civics and government, geography, English, economics, foreign languages, and the arts are now being developed by teachers and scholars. The input of state and local leaders, parents, and citizens is also being sought. The national standards are meant to be a resource to be used by schools, districts, and states to guide and revise curricula, assessments, teacher preparation, and instruction. All of the elements should be aligned so that everyone and everything involved in education work together to help students learn more. National standards do not have to be in place before states and communities can begin to develop their own standards. Indeed, some states have already introduced high standards into their classrooms. States and communities can develop their own standards or modify and adopt those developed under national consensus. Under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the Clinton Administration's landmark school reform bill, federal funds would flow to states and communities to help them develop their own rigorous standards and implement their own programs of school reform to help their students achieve the higher standards. . . April 6, 1994 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Why We Need Voluntary National Education Standards When we think about how to improve our schools, one of the most important questions is: What do we want our children to know and be able to do? Not everyone leaves school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed. Too many of this nation's schools offer students watered-down curricula, inadequate textbooks, and outmoded teaching methods. And we have, until now, often gauged student achievement by the number of courses taken þ not actual learning þ and by scores on multiple-choice tests that often measure little more than low-level skills. The results of international assessments in the 1980s show that the skills and knowledge of American students do not measure up to their international peers. Other developed countries have something we don't: clearly defined high standards. American students can learn more if they are challenged þ both in school and at home. If students and schools are not held to high standards, they will not work hard enough and achieve as much as they can. If their parents don't show them the importance of learning, they may not have the will to learn. WHAT NATIONAL STANDARDS ARE AND HOW THEY'RE BEING SET National standards will describe what all students should know and be able to do at certain grade levels. The standards will encourage students to use their minds well, to solve problems, to think, and to reason. National standards will provide a focus, not a national curriculum; a national consensus, not federal mandates; voluntary adoption, not mandatory use; and dynamic, not static, applications. Mathematics standards are already in use in many classrooms. National standards in science, history, civics and government, geography, English, economics, foreign languages, and the arts are now being developed by teachers and scholars. The input of state and local leaders, parents, and citizens is also being sought. The national standards are meant to be a resource to be used by schools, districts, and states to guide and revise curricula, assessments, teacher preparation, and instruction. All of the elements should be aligned so that everyone and everything involved in education work together to help students learn more. National standards do not have to be in place before states and communities can begin to develop their own standards. Indeed, some states have already introduced high standards into their classrooms. States and communities can develop their own standards or modify and adopt those developed under national consensus. Under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the Clinton Administration's landmark school reform bill, federal funds would flow to states and communities to help them develop their own rigorous standards and implement their own programs of school reform to help their students achieve the higher standards. . . April 6, 1994 ***************************************************** PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE HIGH-WAGE JOBS OF TOMORROW ***************************************************** SKILL STANDARDS: WHAT THEY ARE, WHY WE NEED THEM Many Americans are not equipped with the academic and occupational skills that an increasingly complex job market requires. Often, they do not find stable, career-track jobs for five to 10 years after leaving high school. The cost to them, to businesses and to the American economy is staggering. American students, workers, employers, and educators must be aware of the knowledge and skills that the workplace of today and of the future will demand of them. The Goals 2000: Educate America Act encourages the development and adoption of a system of skill standards and certification of an individual's attainment of such standards. Skill standards identify the specific knowledge, skill, and ability levels needed to perform a given job in a given industry. WHO BENEFITS? With a system of skill standards in place: * STUDENTS in education and training programs will know what skills are needed for high-wage employment and they can earn a credential that is portable and recognizable by employees and demonstrates they have acquired such skills. * EMPLOYERS and businesses will have reliable information to assist in evaluating workers' skill levels in making hiring and training decisions. This is especially important for small and medium-sized businesses that cannot afford to develop their own skill assessment systems. * TRAINING PROVIDERS AND EDUCATORS will be accountable for the services they provide because there will be a method in place to evaluate whether the participants or students have attained skills that are relevant to the demands of the workplace. * UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS can seek retraining with the confidence that the skills they gain will lead to new employment opportunities. * LABOR ORGANIZATIONS can better determine which skills and training are vital to their members' employment security. SKILL STANDARDS AND THE GOALS 2000: EDUCATE AMERICA ACT Goals 2000 contains two major components -- a system for helping states and localities establish high, voluntary academic standards, and a system to support business, labor, educators, and the public in the development of occupational skill standards. The two are inextricably linked. A new generation of workers -- those prepared for high-skill, high-wage jobs -- will emerge from a restructured American education system that produces workers firmly grounded in core academic subjects and equipped with skills that are in demand in today's labor market. To further these goals, the legislation establishes a National Skill Standards Board to encourage and assist partnerships in developing and adopting standards that are relevant to industry. The partnerships -- including broad-based representation from business, labor and education -- would actually develop the standards. The Board's function would be to provide financial and technical assistance in the development of the standards and to endorse standards that meet objective criteria. Standards endorsed by the Board would be linked to the highest international standards and would promote the transition to high-performance work organizations. Through the development of broadly defined skill standards, the U.S. will be able to set goals for skill achievement, competencies, and performance that will help create a lifelong learning system for all Americans and will drive our nation's economic growth into the next century and beyond. . . April 6, 1994 *************************************** Goals 2000 A World-Class Education for Every Child *************************************** Imagine a school ... ...where everything is designed to ensure that all students can realize their full potential. ...where the teachers, the curriculum, the textbooks and technology,the administration, the parents, the community ? all of the people and parts of education ? are working together to help students learn. Imagine a partnership ... ...where all schools can become such a school. ...where organizations at every level -- national, state, and local -- work together to create and support such schools in every community in the United States. That's the vision of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the first major school reform legislation in more than a decade. This landmark law aims to reinvent American schools by creating a framework for establishing high academic and skill standards -- and by providing the leadership and support states and communities need to help students reach those standards. BUILDING ON WHAT WORKS: The Goals 2000: Educate America is based upon principles learned from successful school reform efforts in states and communities during the past 10 years. Those principles include: * Higher expectations for all students. High standards and enriched course content produce better student performance. All students can learn more than we currently ask of them. When we expect more of students, they work harder and achieve more. * New approaches to teaching. Helping students meet challenging standards requires new ways of teaching. Teacher preparation and professional development programs need to be overhauled and improved. * Making schools accountable. We need to give schools the tools and flexibility to do their job, and then hold them responsible for results. * Building partnerships. We've learned that schools can't do it alone. Parents, educators, students, business, labor, and public, private and nonprofit groups need to be active partners in the reform effort. What the Goals 2000: Educate America Act does ... * Supports the development of challenging voluntary academic standards that define what students should know and be able to do and offers states and local communities the support they need to put those higher standards to work in their classrooms. * Encourages the development of a new generation of student performance assessments ? new methods of gauging student achievement that will be linked to national, state, and local standards and which will be valid, reliable, and free of discrimination. * Supports the creation of voluntary national occupational standards that, with the help of business and labor, will define the knowledge and skills needed for the complex, high-wage jobs of tomorrow. * Supports a "bottom-up," grassroots approach to school reform, with the federal government assisting states and local communities in the development and implementation of their own comprehensive and innovative reform programs. A New Federal, State, and Local Partnership ... * Each participating state and community will develop and implement a comprehensive improvement plan that raises standards and helps students achieve them. A broad-based leadership team composed of policymakers, educators, business and civic leaders, parents, and others will help create each reform plan. States may adopt national content and performance standards or they may develop their own. * Federal funds will be provided to support state and local improvement efforts. By the second year of funding, 90 percent of the money will flow to local schools and districts to support their reform plans. * Supports the establishment of parent information and resource centers, in order to help provide parents with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively participate in their child's education. . .