Goals 2000 memo, August 8, 1996

Memo To: RLE, SLK, MMK From: Heather Murphy Subject: Goals 2000 Date: August 8, 1996 Per RLE request, I submit this memo on: Goals 2000 On March 31, 1994, President Clinton and Congress made a bi-partisan commitment to education and our nations youth, when the Goals 2000: Educate America Act was signed into law. Although education is and must remain a local function and state responsibility, the federal government pledged to form a new and supportive partnership with states and communities in an effort to improve student academic achievement across the nation. At the heart of the Goals 2000 Act is a grant program designed to help states and communities develop and implement their own education reforms focused on raising student achievement. States participating in Goals 2000 are asked to raise expectations for students by setting challenging academic standards. Each state is to develop comprehensive strategies for helping all students reach those standards — by upgrading assessments and curriculum to reflect the standards, improving the quality of teaching, promoting more flexibility and choice within the public school system, and building strong partnerships among schools and families, employers, and others in the community. Finally, each state is asked to develop improvement strategies with broad-based, grassroots involvement. States which participate in Goals 2000 receive seed money to help launch and sustain their ongoing education reforms. States are also given unprecedented flexibility through Goals 2000. No new regulations have been issued to implement the program, and states and local school districts can use Goals 2000 funds for a wide range of activities that fit within their own approaches to helping students reach higher standards. In addition, Goals 2000 expands flexibility in other federal education programs by providing the U.S. Secretary of Education and some states with the authority to waive many federal rules and regulations if they interfere with local or state education reform strategies. Goals 2000 is a direct outgrowth of the state-led education reform movement of the