| Since 1980, a near ceaseless flow of studies has indicated that public school pupils in the United States were under-achieving. In response to this, local, state, and federal governments have enacted many reforms. This dissertation studies federal efforts to improve student achievement by using governmental power to set high education standards for the public schools. It focuses on standards-raising policies advocated by Presidents George H. W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. Policies researched include: America 2000, the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, the efforts to create national tests, and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002.; This dissertation reveals that federal standards-raising efforts have had disappointing results. Standards and achievement remain low. The reason for this is that these policies met political resistance. While standards themselves were not objectionable, raising them via federal power clashed with long-standing congressional preferences regarding the federal role in education. Conservatives have long been philosophically opposed to an increased federal role in schooling. Liberals, meanwhile, traditionally have conceptualized the problems of schools as stemming from inadequate funding. Neither side, then, favored standards policies.; Though these political constraints have weakened in recent years, they remain potent. This leaves little room for the exercise of federal power to raise education standards. Accordingly, this study concludes with suggestions for incremental federal reforms that aim to improve state education standards. |
