The Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education of the House Committee on Education and Labor met to consider the recommendations of the National Council on Education Standards and Testing. The report recommends the establishment of national education standards, a national system of assessments, and the establishment of a reconfigured National Education Goals Panel and a national education standards and assessment council to coordinate the development of the standards and assessments. Testifying on behalf of the Council's recommendations were M. S. Smith (Stanford University) and (L. B. Resnick, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh and National Council on Education Standards and Testing). Opposition to the proposal for national testing was expressed by L. Darling-Hammond (National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching, Columbia University). W. M. Haney (Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy, Boston College) outlined a number of shortcomings in the Council report, largely in the area of national testing. Additional statements were offered by: (1) N. V. Cantu, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Texas; (2) L. Rezmierski, superintendent of Northville schools, Michigan; (3) H. D. Hoover, Iowa Basic Skills Testing, Iowa; (4) M. J. Feuer, Office of Technology Assessment, accompanied by N. Carson, Office of Technology Assessment; (5) A. Shanker, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO; (6) D. T. Kearns, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.; (7) R. Romer, Governor of Colorado, Co-Chair National Council on Education Standards and Testing; (8) K. Geiger, National Education Association, National Council on Education Standards and Testing; (9) B. Rosenberg, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO; (10) D. M. Koretz, Rand Corporation; and (11) M. H. Kean, Association of American Publishers and CTB Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. Prepared statements by these speakers and additional prepared statements and supplemental materials are provided. (SLD)

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In this book an eminent scholar and policymaker analyzes the lessons history can teach those who wish to reform the American educational system.Maris Vinovskis begins by tracing the evolving role of the federal government in educational research, providing a historical perspective at a time when there is some movement to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. He then focuses on early childhood education, exploring trends in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He examines the troubling history of the Follow Through Program, which existed from 1967 to 1994 to help Head Start children make the transition into the regular schools, and he reviews the development of the Even Start Program, which works to improve the literacy of disadvantaged parents while providing early childhood education for their children. He discusses changing views toward the economic benefits of education and critically assesses the validity and usefulness of the idea of systemic or standards-based reform. Finally he develops a conceptual framework for mapping and analyzing education research and reform activities.