Clinton Orders Testing for Kids of U.S. Military

Calling in reinforcements to promote school standards, President Clinton ordered the Pentagon on Thursday to require standardized tests in classrooms run by the military for its dependents.

The Defense Department, which operates 233 schools for 115,000 dependents of U.S. military personnel around the world, will join Maryland, Michigan and North Carolina in testing students against international standards by 1999.

“We can make our public schools, just like our military, the best on Earth if, like our military, we are willing to adhere to high, rigorous standards for all people, regardless of their background,” Clinton said in an address to the North Carolina Legislature.

According to Denise Borders, associate director of Department of Defense education activity, military students already score well above the national average in existing standardized tests, even though the schools have an extremely high mobility rate when compared with that of public schools.

The president is going state to state urging lawmakers to adopt national tests that will be developed by 1999 for fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math.

Clinton said he wants the Pentagon to set an example for states and school districts across the country. Teachers, administrators, parents and politicians should not shirk the tests out of fear that their students lag behind international standards, the president said.