[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[April 18, 1991]
[Pages 399-403]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



White House Fact Sheet on the President's Education Strategy
April 18, 1991

    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:

    Creating better and more accountable schools for today's 
            students,
    Creating a new generation of American schools for tomorrow's 
            students,
    Transforming America into a nation of students, and
    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.

    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.
    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

[[Page 400]]

            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.

    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 workforce. The tests will measure higher order 
            skills (i.e., they will not be strictly multiple choice 
            tests).
    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.
    Students who distinguish themselves on the American 
            Achievement Tests will receive a Presidential Citation for 
            Educational Excellence in recognition of their outstanding 
            achievement.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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. States may 
            ``bank'' funds over several years to create even more 
            incentives for successful schools.

D. Providing and Promoting School Choice

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

    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.
    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.

    Presidential Awards for Excellence in

[[Page 401]]

            Education will recognize and reward outstanding teachers 
            across America.
    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.
    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.
    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.

    America's business leaders will establish and mobilize 
            private resources for the New American Schools Development 
            Corporation, a new non-profit organization that will award 
            contracts in 1992 to between three and seven research and 
            development teams. These teams may consist of corporations, 
            universities, think tanks, school innovators, and others. 
            The teams' products will be available to the American 
            people.
    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.
    The President will ask his Education Policy Advisory 
            Committee, as well as the Department of Education, to 
            examine the work of these research and development 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.

    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.
    Once the schools are launched, the operating costs of the 
            New American Schools will be no more than those of 
            conventional schools.
    The President also will ask Congress for start-up funds to 
            help design state-of-the-art technology appropriate for New 
            American Schools.
    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:

    Adopt the six national education goals,
    Establish a community-wide strategy for achieving the goals,
    Develop a report card for measuring its progress, and
    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.''


[[Page 402]]


    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.
    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.

    The President welcomes the commitment by American business 
            to contribute $150-$200 million to support the research and 
            development effort.
    The President asked the Nation's Governors to lead the New 
            American Schools effort in their States.
    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.
    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.
    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 life-long challenge. 
Approximately 85 percent of America's workers for the year 2000 are 
already in the workforce. 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:

    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 American 2000 Excellence in Education Act of 
            1991.
    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

[[Page 403]]

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.

    The administration will urge businesses to make skill 
            clinics available to their employees and encourage America 
            2000 communities to establish community skill clinics.
    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.''

    The President called on the Secretary of Education and the 
            Secretary of 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.

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

    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.
    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.