Goals 2000: Educate America Act
| Date | Chamber | What was voted on | Result | Yes–No | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 23, 1994 | House · vote #86 | On Agreeing to the Conference Report | Passed | 306–121 | See who voted → |
| Mar 23, 1994 | House · vote #85 | RECOMMIT CONFERENCE REPORT WITH INSTRUCTIONS | Failed | 195–232 | See who voted → |
| Feb 23, 1994 | House · vote #30 | MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES | Passed | 367–55 | See who voted → |
| Oct 13, 1993 | House · vote #496 | On Passage | Passed | 307–118 | See who voted → |
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Title I: Goals 2000: Educate America Act
Part A: National Education Goals
Part B: National Education Reform Leadership,
Standards, and Assessments
Part C: State and Local Education Systemic
Improvement
Part D: National Skill Standards Board
Part E: Miscellaneous
Part F: Parental Information and Resource Centers
Title II: Educational Research, Development, and
Dissemination Act
Part A: General Provisions Regarding Office of Educational
Research and Improvement
Part B: National Educational Research Policy and
Priorities Board
Part C: National Research Institutes
Part D: National Education Dissemination System
Part E: National Library of Education
Title III: Safe Schools Act of 1994
Title I: Goals 2000: Educate America Act - Part A: National Education Goals - Sets forth national goals for education, to be achieved by the year 2000, in the following categories: (1) school readiness; (2) school completion; (3) student achievement and citizenship (including access to physical and health education); (4) teacher education and professional development; (5) mathematics and science; (6) adult literacy and lifelong learning; (7) safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools; and (8) school and home partnership. Sets forth specific objectives for each goal.
Part B: National Education Reform Leadership Standards, and Assessments - Subpart 1: National Education Goals Panel - Establishes the National Education Goals Panel in the executive branch.
(Sec. 123) Requires the Panel to issue an annual national report card on progress toward achieving the national education goals and on actions that Federal, State, and local governments should take to enhance such progress.
(Sec. 127) Directs the Panel to support the work of its Resource and Technical Planning Groups to improve the methods of assessing the readiness of children for school that would lead to alternatives to currently used norm-referenced early childhood assessments.
Subpart 2: National Education Standards and Improvement Council - Establishes the National Education Standards and Improvement Council in the executive branch.
(Sec. 133) Requires the Council to develop and certify (subject to Panel review and approval) voluntary national standards for content areas, student performance, and fair opportunity-to-learn. Authorizes the Council to certify any such standards presented by a State, if these are consistent with the national standards.
Directs the Council to certify a system of assessments voluntarily presented by a State if such system meets certain criteria, including State establishment or adoption of opportunity-to-learn standards. Prohibits such a system from being used to make decisions regarding graduation, grade promotion, or retention of students for five years after enactment of this Act.
Provides that no State shall be required to obtain such certification of standards or assessments or to participate in programs under title III of this Act as a condition of participating in any Federal education program.
(Sec. 139) Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make a competitive grant to a consortium of various individuals and organizations to develop voluntary national opportunity-to-learn standards.
(Sec. 140) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to applicant States and local educational agencies (LEAs) to help defray costs of developing, field testing, and evaluating systems of assessments aligned to Council-certified State content standards.
(Sec. 141) Directs the Secretary to make an annual grant to the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Education to evaluate the work of and process used by the Panel and Council and provide them information.
Subpart 3: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for the Panel, the Council, the opportunity-to-learn development grant, and the assessment development and evaluation grants.
Part C: State and Local Education Systemic Improvement - Establishes a five-year grant program for State and local education systemic improvement.
(Sec. 153) Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 156) Sets forth requirements for State improvement plans, including strategies for: (1) improving teaching and learning (including standards for content, student performance, and opportunity-to-learn); (2) system governance and management; (3) parental and community support and involvement; (4) State system-wide improvement; (5) promoting bottom-up reform; and (6) coordination with school-to-work programs and of academic and vocational instruction. Declares that nothing in such plan requirements shall be construed to authorize Federal mandates, direction, or control over a State, local educational agency (LEA), or school's curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State and local resources.
(Sec. 159) Requires State education agencies (SEAs) to make competitive subgrants for: (1) local reform, to LEAs; and (2) preservice teacher education and professional development activities, to consortia of LEAs, higher education institutions, private nonprofit organizations, or combinations of these, through a peer-review process. Requires that at least 50 percent of local reform subgrants be awarded to LEAs with a greater percentage or number of disadvantaged children than the statewide average.
(Sec. 160) Provides for availability of systemic reform information and training to private elementary and secondary schools and teachers.
(Sec. 161) Authorizes the Secretary to waive requirements and related regulations of specified Federal laws relating to education upon request of SEAs, LEAs, and schools if such requirements impede their ability to carry out the State or local education improvement plans, and if other conditions are met.
(Sec. 163) Authorizes the Secretary to provide for national leadership activities, including technical assistance, data-gathering, research, evaluation, and information-dissemination. Reserves funds for grants to urban and rural LEAs with large numbers of concentrations of students economically disadvantaged or with limited English proficiency, to assist in school improvement plans development and implementation.
(Sec. 164) Provides for assistance under this title for outlying areas, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and Department of Defense schools.
Part D: National Skill Standards Board - Establishes a National Skill Standards Board.
(Sec. 173) Directs the Board to identify broad clusters of major occupations that involve one or more industries in the United States and, with respect to each cluster, promote and assist in voluntary development and adoption by specified representative groups of industries, employees, and educational institutions of: (1) skill standards; (2) assessment and certification systems; (3) evaluation systems; (4) information dissemination systems; and (5) revision and updating of systems. Includes among the standards which the voluntary skill standards must meet or exceed: (1) the highest standards used in other countries and the highest international standards; and (2) the highest applicable standards used in the United States, including apprenticeship standards registered under the National Apprenticeship Act. Provides for Board endorsement of standards. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to make grants and contracts to carry out purposes of this part.
(Sec. 176) Authorizes appropriations.
Part E: Miscellaneous - Prohibits the use of funds under titles II or III of this Act to undertake assessments that will be used to make decisions regarding the graduation, grade promotion, or retention of students for five years from the enactment of this Act.
(Sec. 183) Amends the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act to set forth conditions under which the Commissioner of Education Statistics may authorize State educational agencies to use items and data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to evaluate a course of study related to vocational education.
(Sec. 184) Provides for compliance with the Buy American Act. Sets forth the sense of the Congress regarding purchase of U.S.-made equipment and products with financial assistance under this Act. Prohibits contracts under this Act with those who falsely label products as "Made in America."
Part F: Parental Information and Resources - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make annual grants to private, nonprofit organizations to provide training and information to parents of children aged birth to five years and children enrolled in participating schools and individuals who work with such parents to encourage a more effective working relationship with professionals in meeting the educational needs of such children.
(Sec. 195) Directs the Secretary, after the establishment of a parent training and information center in each State, to provide for establishment of additional experimental centers.
(Sec. 197) Authorizes appropriations.
Title II: Educational Research, Development, and Dissemination Excellence Act - Part A: General Provisions Regarding Office of Educational Research and Improvement - (Sec. 211) Amends the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) to revise certain provisions relating to the purpose, administration, functions, and structure of the Office of Educational Research Improvement (OERI).
Eliminates provisions for the National Advisory Council on Educational Research and Improvement.
Directs the Secretary of Education, acting through OERI, to carry out specified policies, in accordance with the policies and priorities established by the National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board. Requires OERI to be administered by an Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement.
Eliminates a specified exception (for small amounts or urgent situations) to the use of peer review procedures established by OERI in awarding competitive grants or contracts.
Authorizes appropriations for OERI programs and units (both current ones and ones added by this Act).
(Sec. 212) Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to provide for an Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement.
(Sec. 213) Provides that contracts for regional educational laboratories, education resources information clearinghouses, and research and development centers assisted under GEPA shall remain in effect until their own termination date.
(Sec. 214) Requires existing grants and contracts for the research and development centers assisted under GEPA to remain in effect until their termination, and allows them to be extended to implement the provisions of this Act.
Part B: National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board - Amends GEPA to establish within OERI a National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board (Board).
(Sec. 221) Makes the Board, acting through the Assistant Secretary, responsible for specified functions.
Directs the Board to develop a research priorities plan and program, which recommends priorities for investment of OERI resources over the next five-, ten-, and 15-year periods.
Directs the Board to: (1) review and approve standards for the conduct and evaluation of all OERI activities; and (2) establish a standing subcommittee for each of specified Institutes and for the Office of Dissemination and School Improvement.
Part C: National Research Institutes - Amends GEPA to establish the following National Research Institutes within OERI: (1) the National Institute for Education of At-Risk Students; (2) the National Institute for Innovation in Educational Governance, Finance, Policy-Making, and Management; (3) the National Institute for Early Childhood Development and Education; (4) the National Institute on Student Achievement; and (5) the National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Education. Sets forth provisions relating to such Institutes' targeting historically underrepresented researchers and institutions.
(Sec. 231) Directs the Secretary, through the Assistant Secretary, to undertake comprehensive, coordinated programs of research by each of the Institutes on: (1) assessment; (2) cross-cutting issues relevant to one or more Institutes; (3) teaching and teacher education; and (4) educational technology.
Part D: National Education Dissemination System - Amends GEPA to establish within OERI an Office of Reform Assistance and Dissemination (Dissemination Office), through which the Secretary shall carry out a national education dissemination system for school improvement. Provides for Dissemination Office functions and duties, including: (1) identification, designation, and dissemination of exemplary and promising programs including certain training, technical, and financial assistance; (2) the Education Resources Information Clearinghouses; (3) dissemination through new technologies; (4) an electronic network for sources of materials and research about teaching and learning for improving nationwide education (SMARTLINE) to link various educational research and other entities; (5) a networked system of the ten regional educational laboratories; (6) the Goals 2000 Community Partnership Program; (7) the Teacher Research Dissemination Network (regional partnerships for teacher change agents); and (8) the existing National Diffusion Network and its Developer-Demonstrator and State Facilitator projects.
(Sec. 241) Authorizes the Assistant Secretary to make grants, under the Goals 2000 Community Partnerships Program, to support establishment of Learning Grant Institutions and District Education Agents and authorized activities for educational innovation, educator preparation, and integrated systems of service delivery for children from birth through age 18 and their families in eligible communities.
Part E: National Library of Education - Amends GEPA to establish within OERI a National Library of Education (the Library) to: (1) provide a central location within the Federal Government for information about education; (2) provide comprehensive reference services on education-related matters; and (3) promote greater cooperation and resource-sharing among education information providers and repositories in the United States. Requires the Library to: (1) establish a one-stop central information and referral service to respond to inquiries from the public; and (2) publicize a toll-free telephone number for public inquiries.
Directs the Library to deliver comprehensive reference services of various types on education-related subjects.
Directs the Library to promote greater cooperation and resource-sharing among libraries and archives with significant collections in the area of education.
Requires the Library to be administered by an Executive Director appointed by the Assistant Secretary.
Directs the Assistant Secretary to appoint a task force of librarians, scholars, teachers, parents, and school leaders (Task Force) to advise on establishment of the Library.
Transfers to the Library all functions of the Department's: (1) Research Library; (2) Reference Section; and (3) Information Branch.
Requires the Assistant Secretary to promulgate a comprehensive collection development policy to govern the Library operations, acquisitions, and services to users. Requires the Executive Director to develop a multiyear plan for elimination of cataloging arrearages and for response to preservation needs.
Title III: Safe Schools Act of 1994 - Directs the Secretary of Education to make competitive grants to eligible local educational agencies for projects to achieve National Education Goal Six by helping to ensure that all schools are safe and free of violence.
Authorizes appropriations.
Authorizes the Secretary to use certain reserved funds to conduct national leadership activities such as research, program development and evaluation, data collection, public awareness activities, training and technical assistance,and peer review of applications, and grants for public television video projects for conflict resolution.
Became Public Law No: 103-227.