...President Reagan proposed tax credits to parents for sending their children to private school and wanted to present vouchers to those who could not afford private school, both proposals removing even more money from public schools. The Reagan administration went so far with cuts in education as to propose that the free-lunch and reduced lunch programs count ketchup as a vegetable (Toch, 23). Reagan's advisors received word about a new report that would undermine the President's views on education. They tried to have it thrown off the congressional agenda but only succeeded in delaying the inevitable. On April 26, 1983 Secretary of Education, Terrell Bell, presented A Nation at Risk, researched and written by many of education's top scholars, to Congress.
The media immediately spoon-fed every word to the American public causing a tremendous stir among the people. The report "focused national attention on public education like no other single event since the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik in 1957" (Toch, 15). The message that our nation was in serious danger and that our schools had left the nation vulnerable to other countries, was alarming. The report proposed longer school days, more effort required on the part of the student, more homework, tougher grading, more testing, and better textbooks (Ryan and Cooper, 455).
New reports flooded the public over the following few months. The reports combined with the nation's failing economy set the stage for education reform. The Reagan administration quickly changed its stand on education. Acting on advice from his advisors, President Reagan added education reform to his political campaign. Ironically, President Reagan's re-election campaign gained the national attention that education reform needed (Toch, 23)
In 1989, President George H. W. Bush, and the state governors adopted a list of goals for education reform (Ryan and Cooper, 456). These goals called for better student understanding and a willingness to learn, lower illiteracy rates, higher graduation rates, better assessment, better staff development, more parental involvement, and a safer, drug-free school environment, all to be reached by the year 2000. In 1994, President Clinton made these goals law with the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. Because of lack of support, now almost to the year 2002 these goals still are not even close to being met.
Many advocates for education reform believe there are key elements essential to education reform: a national curriculum, a call for excellence, implementing Constructivism, using authentic assessment, reducing class size, incorporating technology into the curriculum, character education, and staff development. The United States currently does not have a national curriculum. Critics believe setting a national curriculum builds an increase in federal control over schools. They believe a national curriculum "would trample cultural diversity... and put disadvantaged students at an even greater disadvantage" (Ryan and Cooper, 457) However, many advocates believe it would provide a basis for all students, creating equality in education...

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