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White House Fact Sheet             April 18, 1991

AMERICA 2000:  THE PRESIDENT'S EDUCATION STRATEGY


The president today outlined his strategy to move the nation toward
achieving the national education goals and educational excellence for
all Americans.  The president believes we must restructure and
revitalize America's education system by the year 2000.

Emphasizing that this effort is a national challenge, the president
asked all Americans to take part in "the crusade that counts most─the
crusade to prepare our children and ourselves for the exciting future
that looms ahead."

AMERICA 2000 builds on four related themes:

o    Creating better and more accountable schools
     for today's students;

o    Creating a New Generation of American Schools for tomorrow's
     students;

o    Transforming America into a Nation of Students; and

o    Making our communities places where learning will happen.

I.   CREATING  BETTER AND MORE ACCOUNTABLE SCHOOLS FOR TODAY'S STUDENTS

The president called on all Americans to help create better and more
accountable schools based on world class standards and the principle of
accountability.  He encouraged all elements of our
communities─families, businesses, unions, places of worship,
neighborhood organizations and other voluntary associations─to work
together with our schools to help the nation achieve educational
excellence.

A.  World Class Standards in Five Core Subjects

The president believes the time has come to establish world class
standards for what our children should know and be able to do in five
core subjects:  English, mathematics, science, history, and geography.

o    Through the National Education Goals Panel, and working with
     interested parties throughout the nation, the president and the
     governors will develop a timetable for establishing national
     standards in these five subjects, and in September 1991, and each
     year thereafter, the panel will report to the nation on progress
     toward the national education goals.

o    The standards are intended to lift the entire education system and
     improve the learning achievement of all students.  The president
     and the governors oppose a national curriculum or federalizing our
     education system.

B.  A System of Voluntary National Examinations

Through the efforts of the National Education Goals Panel, a system of
voluntary examinations will be developed and made available for all
fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade students in the five core subjects.

o    These American Achievement Tests will challenge all students to
     strive to meet the world class standards and ensure that, when
     they leave school, students are prepared for further study and the
     work force.  The tests will measure higher order skills (i.e.,
     they will not be strictly multiple choice tests).

o    The president, working with the nation's governors, will seek
     congressional authorization for state-level National Assessment of
     Educational Progress assessments and for optional use of these
     assessments at district and school levels.

o    Students who distinguish themselves on the American Achievement
     Tests will receive a Presidential Citation for Educational
     Excellence in recognition of their outstanding achievement.

o    The president will seek authorization for Presidential Achievement
     Scholarships to reward academic excellence among low-income
     students pursuing postsecondary education opportunities.  These
     financial awards will be based on superior high school and college
     performance.

C.  Schools as the Site of Reform

The administration will help strengthen the capacity of elementary and
secondary schools to improve results and to innovate by increasing
flexibility in decisionmaking at the state, district, and school levels
and encouraging report cards on performance.

o    In addition to an annual National Report Card, the president will
     encourage schools, school districts, and states to issue regular
     report cards on their education performance.  These report cards
     will measure results and progress toward achieving the national
     education goals.

o    As part of his AMERICA 2000 Excellence in Education Act of 1991,
     the president will again seek legislation that will allow greater
     flexibility in the use of federal resources for education in
     exchange for enhanced accountability for results.

o    To stimulate reform in mathematics and science education, the
     AMERICA 2000 Excellence in Education Act of 1991 will include $40
     million for new grants to school districts that show significant
     gains in student achievement.  Awards will be used for continued
     improvements in these vital subjects.

o    The AMERICA 2000 Excellence in Education Act of 1991 also will
     seek funds for a Merit Schools Program for states to award
     individual schools that demonstrate significant progress toward
     the national education goals.

D.  Providing and Promoting School Choice

The president believes that educational choice for parents and students
is critical to improving our schools.

o    The president will promote state and local choice programs as part
     of his AMERICA 2000 Excellence in Education Act of 1991.

     ─    A $200 million Education Certificate Program Support Fund
          will provide incentive grants to local school districts with
          qualified education certificate programs that enhance
          parental choice.

     ─    National school choice demonstration projects will be
          supported through a $30 million initiative.

o    The administration also will seek ways to ensure that federal
     education programs are more supportive of choice.

E.  Teachers and Principals

America's teachers and principals are on the front lines of
transforming our schools.  As part of his AMERICA 2000 Excellence in
Education Act of 1991, the president will propose several initiatives
to promote outstanding leadership in our schools.

o    Presidential Awards for Excellence in Education will recognize and
     reward outstanding teachers across America.

o    The president will encourage states and communities to provide
     alternative routes of certification through one-time grants to
     states to support implementation of alternative certification.

o    In order to improve the training of school principals and other
     school leaders, the president will propose establishing Governors'
     Academies in every state with federal seed money to enhance
     principal training through instructional and mentoring programs.

o    The president will seek to establish Governors' Academies for
     America's teachers with federal seed money to offer advanced
     instruction focusing on the five core academic disciplines.

The president also encouraged states to consider differential pay and
financial and other awards for those who excel in teaching, teach core
subjects, teach in challenging settings, and serve as mentors for new
teachers.

II.  CREATING A NEW GENERATION OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS FOR TOMORROW'S
     STUDENTS

The president today challenged the best minds in America to design─and
help communities create─the best schools in the world.

A. Research and Development

A series of Research and Development Teams, funded by contributions
from the business community, will help design a New Generation of
American Schools.

o    America's business leaders will establish and mobilize private
     resources for the New American Schools Development Corporation, a
     new nonprofit organization that will award contracts in 1992 to
     between three and seven  R & D Teams.  These Teams may consist of
     corporations, universities, think tanks, school innovators and
     others.  The Teams' products will be available to the American
     people.

o    The mission of these Teams is to help communities create schools
     that will reach the national education goals, including world
     class standards in the five core subjects for all students, as
     monitored by the American Achievement Tests and similar measures.

o    The president will ask his Education Policy Advisory Committee, as
     well as the Department of Education, to examine the work of these
     R & D Teams and to report on their progress.

B.  New American Schools

The president will ask Congress to provide $550 million in one-time
start-up funds to create at least 535 New American Schools that "break
the mold" of existing school designs.

o    These funds will provide up to $1 million for each New American
     School to underwrite special staff training, instructional
     materials, or other support the school needs.  The goal is to have
     at least one New American School operating in each congressional
     district by September 1996.

o    Once the schools are launched, the operating costs of the New
     American Schools will be no more than those of conventional
     schools.

o    The president also will ask Congress for start-up funds to help
     design state-of-the-art technology appropriate for New American
     Schools.

o    A New American School does not necessarily mean new bricks and
     mortar.  Nor does a New American School have to rely on
     technology; the quality of learning is what matters.

C.  AMERICA 2000 Communities
The president called on every community in the country to do four
things:

o    Adopt the six national education goals;

o    Establish a community-wide strategy for achieving the goals;

o    Develop a report card for measuring its progress; and

o    Demonstrate its readiness to create and support a New American
     School.

Communities that accept this challenge will be designated, by the
governors of their states, as "AMERICA 2000 Communities."

o    Governors, in conjunction with the secretary of Education, will
     review community-developed plans with the assistance of a
     distinguished advisory panel and will determine which AMERICA 2000
     Communities in each state will receive federal financial support
     in starting New American Schools.

o    The governors and the secretary will ensure that many such schools
     serve communities with high concentrations of children at risk.

D. Leadership at All Levels

Transforming American education and creating a New Generation of
American Schools will require the commitment of America's leaders at
all levels.

o    The president welcomes the commitment by American business to
     contribute $150-$200 million to support the
     R & D effort.

o    The president asked the nation's governors to lead the New
     American Schools effort in their states.

o    The president challenged state legislatures to support the
     creation and operation of New American Schools; embrace the world
     class standards and adopt the American Achievement Tests; and work
     toward school, district, and state-level report cards.

o    The president encouraged civic leaders to help organize community
     plans all across the country to seek designation as an AMERICA
     2000 Community and to help plan and operate New American Schools.
     Business can encourage local schools to use the World Class
     Standards and American Achievement Tests and encourage schools to
     issue report cards on their performance.

o    The president called on educators to accept new roles and to take
     risks.  Teachers, principals, and other educators are asked to
     work to develop a consensus on the World Class Standards and to
     determine what it would take to create a New American School in
     each community.
E.  Families and Children Devoted to Learning

The president called on parents to urge use of World Class Standards,
American Achievement Tests, and report cards by local schools.  Parents
must play a key role in creating New American Schools in their own
communities and must work with children in the home to improve
children's performance in school.


III. TRANSFORMING AMERICA INTO "A NATION OF  STUDENTS"

The president believes that learning is a lifelong challenge.
Approximately 85 percent of America's workers for the year 2000 are
already in the work force.  Improving schools for today's and
tomorrow's students is not sufficient to ensure a competitive America
in the year 2000.  The president called on Americans to move from "A
Nation at Risk" to "A Nation of Students" by continuing to enhance the
knowledge and skills of all Americans.

A.   Strengthening the Nation's Education Effort for Yesterday's
     Students, Today's Workers

To advance the goal of improving literacy for all Americans:

o    The president will push for greater accountability and choice in
     the Adult Education Act and will advance these twin principles in
     new adult literacy activities proposed under the new AMERICA 2000
     Excellence in Education Act of 1991.

o    The Department of Education will provide regular, timely, and
     reliable information by expanding the National Adult Literacy
     Survey and collecting information about literacy efforts on a
     regular basis.

B.  Establishing Standards for Job Skills and Knowledge

The president urged business and labor cooperatively to develop─and
then to use─world class standards and core proficiencies for each
industry.  Federal resources will be sought to provide start-up
assistance for this effort.

C.  Creating Business and Community Skill Clinics

Today's workers will be assisted through Skill Clinics─one-stop service
centers located in businesses and communities across America where
adults can get job skill diagnosis and referral services.

o    The administration will urge businesses to make Skill Clinics
     available to their employees and encourage AMERICA 2000
     Communities to establish community Skill Clinics.

o    Federal departments and agencies will be encouraged to establish
     such Skill Clinics and, working with the Office of Personnel
     Management, will be encouraged to undertake activities to upgrade
     their employees' skills.

D.  Enhancing Job Training Opportunities

The Domestic Policy Council Job Training 2000 Working Group will review
current federal job training efforts and identify successful ways of
motivating and enabling individuals to receive the comprehensive
services, education, and skills necessary to achieve economic
independence.

E.  Mobilizing A "Nation of Students"

The president will work to transform "A Nation at Risk" into "A Nation
of Students."

o    The president called on the secretaries of Education and Labor to
     convene business and labor leaders; education and training
     experts; and federal, state, and local government officials at a
     national conference on the education of adult Americans to launch
     a national effort to transform adult America into a "Nation of
     Students."


IV.   MAKING OUR COMMUNITIES PLACES WHERE LEARNING WILL HAPPEN

The president called on communities to adopt the six national education
goals as their own, set a community strategy to meet them, produce a
report card to measure results, and agree to create and support a New
American School.

The president believes that it is essential to reaffirm such enduring
values as personal responsibility, individual action, and other core
principles that must underpin life in a democratic society.  The aim of
the AMERICA 2000 Community campaign is to make our communities places
where learning will happen.

A.  Greater Parental Involvement

The president urged parents to become more involved in their children's
education and in the work of the New American Schools.

o    Parents and teachers should encourage children to study more,
     learn more, and strive to meet higher academic standards.

o    The president encouraged parents to read aloud daily to their
     children, especially their younger children.

B.  Enhanced Program Effectiveness for Children and
      Communities

The president is committed to making government work better to improve
programs for America's children and communities.

o    Working through the Domestic Policy Council Economic Empowerment
     Task Force and with the nation's governors and other officials,
     the administration will undertake better coordination of existing
     federal programs with corresponding state and local activities.

o    As part of this effort, existing program eligibility requirements
     will be reviewed in order to streamline them and reduce federal
     red tape.  Wherever possible, states will be afforded maximum
     flexibility to design and implement integrated state, local, and
     federal programming.





University of Virginia   Charlottesville, Virginia     September 27-28,
1989

THE PRESIDENT'S EDUCATION SUMMIT WITH GOVERNORS

Joint Statement

The president and the nation's governors agree that a better educated
citizenry is the key to the continued growth and prosperity of the
United States.  Education has historically been, and should remain, a
state responsibility and a local function, which works best when there
is also strong parental involvement in the schools.  And, as a nation we
must have an educated work force, second to none, in order to succeed in
an increasingly competitive world economy.

Education has always been important, but never this important because
the stakes have changed:  Our competitors for opportunity are also
working to educate their people.  As they continue to improve, they make
the future a moving target.  We believe that the time has come, for the
first time in U.S. history, to establish clear national performance
goals, goals that will make us internationally competitive.

The president and the nation's governors have agreed at this summit to:

o    establish a process for setting national education goals;

o    seek greater flexibility and enhanced accountability in the use of
     federal resources to meet the goals, through both regulatory and
     legislative changes;

o    undertake a major state-by-state effort to restructure our
     education system; and

o    report annually on progress in achieving our goals.

This agreement represents the first step in a long-term commitment to
reorient the education system and to marshal widespread support for the
needed reforms.

National Education Goals
The first step in restructuring our education system is to build a
broad-based consensus around a defined set of national education goals.
The National Governors' Association Task Force on Education will work
with the president's designees to recommend goals to the president and
the nation's governors.  The process to develop the goals will involve
teachers, parents, local administrators, school board members, elected
officials, business and labor communities, and the public at large.  The
overriding objective is to develop an ambitious, realistic set of
performance goals that reflect the views of those with a stake in the
performance of our education system.  To succeed we need a common
understanding and a common mission.  National goals will allow us to
plan effectively, to set priorities, and to establish clear lines of
accountability and authority.  These goals will lead to the development
of detailed strategies that will allow us to meet these objectives.

The process for establishing these goals should be completed and the
goals announced in early 1990.

By performance we mean goals that will, if achieved, guarantee that we
are internationally competitive, such as goals related to:

o    the readiness of children to start school;

o    the performance of students on international achievement tests,
     especially in math and science;

o    the reduction of the dropout rate and the improvement of academic
     performance, especially among at-risk students;

o    the functional literacy of adult Americans;

o    the level of training necessary to guarantee a competitive work
     force;

o    the supply of qualified teachers and up-to-date technology; and

o    the establishment of safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools.

The Federal-State Partnership

Flexibility and Accountability

The president and the governors are committed to achieving the maximum
return possible from our investments in the nation's education system.
We define maximum return as follows:  significant and sustained
educational improvement for all children.  Nothing less will meet the
nation's needs for a strong, competitive work force; nothing less will
meet our children's needs for successful citizenship and economic
opportunity.

Federal funds, which represent only a small part of total education
spending, are directed particularly toward services for young people
most at risk.  Federal laws and regulations control where and for whom
states and localities spend this money.  State and local laws and
regulations control what is taught, and how, for all students.

At present, neither federal nor state and local laws and regulations
focus sufficiently on results, or on real educational improvement for
all children.  Federal and state executives need authority to waive
statutory and regulatory provisions in return for greater accountability
for results.

The president and the governors have agreed:

o    to examine federal regulations under current law and to move in the
     direction of greater flexibility;

o    to take parallel steps in each state with respect to state laws and
     administrative rules; and

o    to submit legislation to Congress early next year that would
     provide state and local recipients greater flexibility in the use
     of federal funds, in return for firm commitments to improved levels
     of education and skill training.

The president and the governors have agreed to establish a working group
of governors and the president's designees to begin work immediately to
accomplish these tasks.

We know that other voices need to be heard in this discussion─voices of
educators, parents, and those whose primary interest is the protection
of the disadvantaged, minorities, and the handicapped.  We need to work
with the Congress.  The processes we will set up immediately following
this conference will involve all parties.

The urgent need for flexibility in using federal funds can best be
illustrated by a few examples.

First, the federal Vocational Education Act, which mandates specific
set-asides that often result in individual awards that are too small to
be meaningful and that prohibit the money from being spent to achieve
its purpose.  One state reported being required to divide $300,000 in
aid among far too many categories and set-asides.

Second, similarly, the Chapter 1 program requires that equipment
purchased to provide remedial education services cannot be used for
non-Chapter 1 institutions in areas such as adult education.  Several
states report that large numbers of computers purchased by federal funds
are idle at night, while adult education classes that need them either
do without or use scarce tax dollars to buy other equipment.

Third, the requirements that children who benefit from federal funds for
compensatory and special education be taught separately often undermine
their achievement.  Waivers that permit these students to return to
regular classes and receive extra help have produced large increases in
their test scores.  This option should be available for all school
districts.

These commitments are historic steps toward ensuring that young people
with the greatest needs receive the best our schools and training
programs can give them, and that all children reach their highest
educational potential.  In a phrase, we want to swap red tape for
results.

The Federal Government's Financial Role

State and local governments provide more than 90 percent of education
funding.  They should continue to bear that lion's share of the load.
The federal financial role is limited and has even declined, but it is
still important.  That role is─

o    to promote national education equity by helping our poor children
     get off to a good start in school, giving disadvantaged and
     handicapped children extra help to assist them in their school
     years, ensuring accessibility to a college education, and preparing
     the work force for jobs;

o    to provide research and development for programs that work, good
     information on the real performance of students, schools, and
     states, and assistance in replicating successful state and local
     initiatives all across the United States.

We understand the limits imposed on new spending by the federal deficit
and the budget process.  However, we urge that priority for any further
funding increases be given to prepare young children to succeed in
school.  This is consistent with the president's recommendation for an
increase in the number of children served by Head Start in this year's
budget.  If we are ever to develop a system that ensures that our
children are healthy and succeed in school, the federal government will
have to play a leading role.

Further, we urge that the Congress not impose new federal mandates that
are unrelated to children but that require states to spend state tax
money that could otherwise go to education.

Commitment to Restructuring

Virtually every state has substantially increased its investment in
education, increased standards, and improved learning.  Real gains have
occurred.  However, we still have a long way to go.

We must make dramatic improvements in our education system.  This cannot
be done without a genuine, national, bipartisan commitment to excellence
and without a willingness to dramatically alter our system of education.

The president and the nation's governors agree that significant steps
must be taken to restructure education in all states.  We share the view
that simply more of the same will not achieve the results we need.  We
must find ways to deploy the resources we commit to education more
effectively.

A similar process has been going on in the American manufacturing
industry over the last decade with astonishing results:  an increase in
productivity of nearly 4 percent a year.

There are many promising new ideas and strategies for restructuring
education.  These include greater choice for parents and students,
greater authority and accountability for teachers and principals,
alternative certification programs for teachers, and programs that
systematically reward excellence and performance.  Most successful
restructuring efforts seem to have certain common characteristics:

o    a system of accountability that focuses on results, rather than on
     compliance with rules and regulations;

o    decentralization of authority and decision-making responsibility to
     the school site, so that educators are empowered to determine the
     means for achieving the goals and to be held accountable for
     accomplishing them;

o    a rigorous program of instruction designed to ensure that every
     child can acquire the knowledge and skills required in an economy
     in which our citizens must be able to think for a living;

o    an education system that develops first-rate teachers and creates a
     professional environment that provides real rewards for success
     with students, real consequences for failure, and the tools and
     flexibility required to get the job done; and

o    active, sustained parental and business community involvement.

Restructuring efforts are now under way in many states.  The nation's
governors are committed to a major restructuring effort in every state.
The governors will give this task high priority and will report on their
progress in one year.

Assuring Accountability

As elected chief executives, we expect to be held accountable for
progress in meeting the new national goals, and we expect to hold others
accountable as well.

When goals are set and strategies for achieving them are adopted, we
must establish clear measures of performance and then issue annual
report cards on the progress of students, schools, the states, and the
federal government.

Over the last few days we have humbly walked in the footsteps of Thomas
Jefferson.  We have started down a promising path.  We have entered into
a compact─a Jeffersonian compact to enlighten our children and the
children of generations to come.

The time for rhetoric is past; the time for performance is now.