Goals 2000

Goals 2000 focused congressional and executive branch efforts to achieve specific outcomes that would ensure the U.S. economic and educational competitiveness. They included an expectation of a continued federal advocacy of the six goals adopted by the state governors of the first Bush administration. The goals were established in the 1990s and were part of a national effort to foster standards-based reform in schools throughout the United States.

These goals, though laudable, were largely rhetorical and their actual realization, given the federal budget deficit, was highly problematic. Accomplishing the goals was largely a state effort because of the lack of long-term federal funding.

The actual passage of Goals 2000: Educate America Act (Public Law 103–227) took place in 1994 and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The Goals 2000 effort was initiated in 1989 during President George H. W. Bush's administration. President Bush met with governors from around the country in Virginia at a bipartisan summit that focused on education. President Bush and others wanted educational reform, and they viewed the goals as a type of “pact” with the nation's schools to enhance the quality of educational experiences provided to students in U.S. classrooms.

The goals (National Education Goals) included the following:

• 1
  School Readiness
  A. By the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn….
• 2
  School Completion
  A. By the year 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent….
• 3
  Student Achievement and Citizenship
  A. By the year 2000, all students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12, having demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics, government, economics, arts, history, and geography….
• 4
  Teacher Education and Professional Development
  A. By the year 2000, 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.
• 5
  Mathematics and Science
  A. By the year 2000, the United States students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement.
• 6
  Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning
  A. By the year 2000, 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.
[Page 411]
• 7
  Safe, Disciplined, and Alcohol- and Drug-Free Schools
  A. By the year 2000, 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.
• 8
  Parental Participation
  A. By the year 2000, every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.

The Clinton administration vowed to pursue these goals for the year 2000, with the anticipation that there would be a more assertive federal role in the funding of education despite the federal budget deficit. An expectation of some type of system of national testing was proffered, as well as an attempt to create minimal volitional national curriculum standards. Originally, in 1994, Congress offered approximately $105 million in fiscal support, which on a national scale constituted a very minimal financial commitment.

...