[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 11 (Monday, March 17, 1997)]
[Pages 361-362]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on National Testing in Defense Department Schools

March 13, 1997

Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense

Subject: Participation of Department of Defense Dependents Schools and 
Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools in National Testing

    The Department of Defense Dependents Schools overseas and the 
Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools here at home play an 
important role in enhancing the quality of life and overall readiness of 
the Armed Forces of the United States. They provide military families 
deployed overseas and within the United States with outstanding 
educational opportunities, and they play a vital role in preparing the 
children of military and civilian personnel in the Armed Forces for the 
future.
    Students in these schools deserve the best we can offer, starting 
with the highest expectations and most challenging academic stand

[[Page 362]]

ards available. Drawn from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, located in 
15 countries throughout the world and in seven States and Puerto Rico 
here at home, all highly mobile, no group of students better underscores 
the need for common national standards and a uniform way of measuring 
progress.
    That is why I am pleased the Department of Defense Dependents 
Schools and Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools have 
accepted the challenge of benchmarking the performance of their students 
against widely accepted national standards in fourth grade reading and 
eighth grade math, using voluntary national tests aligned with these 
standards. This step will ensure that students, parents, and teachers in 
the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools will have 
honest, accurate information about whether students are mastering the 
basic skills. Along with the States of Maryland, Michigan, and North 
Carolina, the DoDEA schools are among the first in the Nation to commit 
to participate in this testing program, beginning in 1999.
    Accepting this challenge of meeting national standards means much 
more than administering new tests. It means beginning immediately to 
prepare students to meet these standards. This will require steps such 
as providing parents with the information and assistance they need to be 
their child's first teacher, upgrading the curriculum, implementing 
proven instructional practices and programs, making accessible new 
technologies to enhance teaching and learning, supporting and rewarding 
good teaching, and providing students who need it with extra help and 
tutoring.
    The DoDEA schools have already begun this task, but much more needs 
to be done. And the lessons the DoDEA schools learn from these efforts 
can be valuable for other schools throughout our Nation.
    Therefore I direct you to ensure that the DoDEA schools take these 
and other steps as appropriate, and use all available resources to 
prepare every one of their students to meet these standards, in 1999 and 
each year thereafter, and to report annually on the progress being made 
toward this objective, and on the effectiveness of the strategies and 
approaches the DoDEA school system uses to achieve it.
                                            William J. Clinton