Edward M. Kennedy: “what we have attempted to do in the legislation, as an important part of the legislation, among other matters, is to…”

“what we have attempted to do in the legislation, as an important part of the legislation, among other matters, is to recognize that the real challenge today is to set world-class standards for our schools. We have come to this conclusion as a result of extensive hearings and studies that have been done by a wide variety of different people--thoughtful parents, teachers, academicians, and others--they recommended we encourage what we call content standards, or agreements about what a child ought to know. The second step after content standards is the assessments, the methods to determine whether children know the material, at a particular time. This agreement has been generally, again, worked out over a very considerable period of time and will, I think, really can help us devise a way of evaluating what children know in a more effective way than the rote tests that are used in too many of our schools today. I think this has been a very constructive process.”