Byron Dorgan: “I want to describe one of them that I think is very important that I hope will get resolved today. That is the issue…”

“I want to describe one of them that I think is very important that I hope will get resolved today. That is the issue that was raised last week on the subject of national testing with respect to achievement levels at various grades in our schools. President Clinton has suggested, and others have called for some kind of national testing system by which we can evaluate at the fourth grade level whether children are able to read sufficiently and at the eighth grade level whether they have sufficient capabilities in mathematics, because those are the benchmarks in the education system that allow you to proceed and succeed. If you are not able to read sufficiently in fourth grade, you are not going to do well beyond that. If you don't have a basic grasp of the concept of mathematics by the eighth grade, you are not going to do well beyond that. The question is, What are we getting for our education dollars? We spend a substantial amount of money in this country on elementary and secondary education. What are we getting for it?”