[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 177 (Thursday, November 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16854-S16855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS REPORT

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I wanted to call to the attention of the 
Senate today the release of the fifth annual national education goals 
report, which was released earlier this morning by a group, a 
bipartisan group of Governors, myself, and several State legislators 
who are members of this national education goals panel.
  The panel is presently chaired by Governor Bayh of Indiana, and soon 
it will be chaired by Governor Engler of Michigan. Governor Engler was 
there this morning, as were Gov. Christine Todd Whitman from New Jersey 
and Governor Romer from Colorado, who was the first chairman of this 
panel, and various others of us.
  I wanted to just briefly summarize what was found in that national 
education goals panel report, because I do think it is important. This 
is the midpoint between 1990 and the turn of the century. As people 
will recall, in 1989, President Bush met with 50 Governors in 
Charlottesville, VA, to set out national education goals for the 
country to pursue between the year 1989 and the year 2000. Those goals 
were agreed upon. I think they are good goals for the country. And we 
began the process.
  Part of what was agreed to there was that we not only had to have 
goals, but also had to have some standards, and we had to have a way of 
assessing progress, to determine whether or not the country was moving 
in the right direction or moving in the wrong direction. The report 
today says that we are moving in the right direction but at a very, 
very slow pace. In some States the pace is very much slower than in 
others. It also makes the point, strongly, that we do not have enough 
data to understand what is happening to the extent we would like to.
  There is good news in the report. There is also bad news in the 
report. Let me just summarize a little bit of the good news first.
  The report shows that during the period 1990 through 1992, and 
unfortunately we only have statistics now through 1992, but during that 
period math achievement at grades 4 and 8 in the United States did 
improve. It went up fairly significantly, I would point out. It did not 
do near as well in some States as it did in others. Where the national 
average went from 20 to 25 percent, that is 25 percent of the students 
who were tested measured up as being proficient in math in the eighth 
grade in 1992, in my home State of New Mexico, unfortunately, the 
figure was 14 percent. So we have a ways to go, not just in my State 
but throughout the country.
  The same basic questions and same basic testing and proficiency 
measurements were used internationally as well as in this country. 
Where we have set a goal, and the President and Governors set a goal of 
being first in the world in math and science achievement by the year 
2000, this set of statistics we released today shows that in fact we 
are substantially behind Taiwan, which is at 41 percent on this same 
graph. So 

[[Page S 16855]]
though there is progress to report, it is not enough progress.
  Another item of progress that should be noted is that students took 
more of the challenging advanced placement tests in basic academic 
subjects--in English and math and science and history. That also is 
good news.
  We also are able to report that, among adults, more adults took adult 
education classes throughout this country in 1992. A significantly 
larger number took adult education classes than they did in 1990. 
Again, that is good information and good news.
  The bad news, unfortunately, is in the report as well. That is what 
the report's purpose is. It is to point out where we are making 
progress and where we are not. Unfortunately, high school graduation 
rates have remained at about 86 percent. That is not a change. That is 
not improvement. We need to make improvement in that area.
  Reading achievement at grades 4 and 8 have remained about the same. 
Again, that is not good news.
  There is a large gap that continues, between minority and white 
students as far as college enrollment and completion of college. Again, 
that large gap is not good news.
  In my home State of New Mexico, as I indicated, we have not done as 
well as the national average in some important respects, particularly 
in the math criteria, but also in the reading. I think other States can 
also learn from this data that was released today, where they need to 
make progress.
  The bottom line is that the work of improving educational performance 
in this country needs to continue. We are part way through the 10 
years. We are not all the way. We have a great distance to go.
  I would point out one important fact. That is, the greatest progress 
that is shown in all of this data is in the area of math achievement, 
and that is the only area where we have general agreement on the 
standards that we are striving to achieve. The credit for that goes to 
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. They came up with 
their own set of standards, which they have promulgated throughout the 
country and urged math teachers to adopt. Many teachers have. Many 
school districts have. Many States have. And I think progress in math 
performance is improving. Performance in math is improving to a 
significant extent because we have focused on that area and we have 
concentrated on how to, in fact, define what we want to accomplish and 
go about accomplishing it.
  So I wanted to make the point that this effort continues. It is a 
bipartisan effort. I think it is a very important effort.
  I know we get caught up in all kinds of political battles here in the 
Congress. In my opinion, this is one subject and one issue that ought 
to be above politics. Both Democrats and Republicans should, I believe, 
renew our commitment to improving education in this country. I think 
the Congress has a role in that, which of course we have debated. The 
States have the primary responsibility. I do not think anybody would 
argue with that. Of course, local school districts, local schools, 
teachers, principals, parents and students have the ultimate 
responsibility.
  I appreciate the chance to bring these issues to the attention of my 
colleagues and I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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