Why National Standards and Tests?

Politics and the Quest for Better Schools

The common view today is that the public schools are not good enough and that something must be done to make them better. Setting higher academic standards is one way to raise the educational achievement of students. Why wonÆt the idea of national standards and tests go away? How did the country get on the road to establishing such standards in the first place? Author John F. Jennings gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at how Congress and the Executive Branch have wrestled with this issue and reviews the major debates about whether or not there should be testable national standards for all American schools. In addition, the book presents an informative and provocative account of how national leaders in business and government encouraged setting higher academic standards by establishing national standards for the schools; proposing national tests to measure academic mastery by students; and aiding states and school districts to develop their own standards and tests. Researchers and academic practitioners in public policy, educational administration, evaluation, and testing will find this book compelling readingùparticularly as the debate is replayed across the country as state boards of education and local school boards go about the work of requiring, writing, and implementing higher standards for students and schools.