U.S. Students Fall Short of Reaching Goals

American children are starting school in better health, improving their reading in middle school and making strides in math, but they still fall short of the education goals set for 2000 by Presidents Bush and Clinton and the nation’s governors.

Gaps in data gleaned from the states kept a national commission from saying Thursday exactly how far the nation is from meeting the eight goals. But policymakers praised individual states and celebrated the fact their mission has lasted 10 years in the national education debate.

“Have we achieved all we set out to do? No, of course not,” Education Secretary Richard W. Riley told an audience gathered for the release of the 1999 National Education Goals Report.

In 1990, after Bush and a group of governors that included then-Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas held an education summit, six national goals were adopted on principle: All preschool children would start school in good health, 90% of high school students would graduate, students would perform well in tests of basic subjects, U.S. students would lead the world in math and science achievement, schools would be safe and drug free, and all adults would be literate.

Two goals for teacher training and parent involvement were added in 1994 under the Clinton administration.

In the cases of adult literacy, international comparisons in math and science testing and state comparisons in writing and other subjects, data were not collected often enough to judge progress.

But in measurable areas, such as improved teacher preparation, school safety and parent participation, progress has stalled or worsened since the goals were set.