Jeff Bingaman: “in 1989, 6 years ago, President Bush and the Nation's Governors recognized the critical need to raise education…”

“in 1989, 6 years ago, President Bush and the Nation's Governors recognized the critical need to raise education standards in this country. They sought to raise standards that we hold our students to and that we try to adhere to in our schools throughout the country. They met in Charlottesville, VA, in the first education summit in our Nation's history. They set ambitious goals to improve education by the year 2000. They agreed to measure their progress and to report their success to the American people every year. In 1995, last year, we reached the halfway point. The 1995 annual ``National Education Goals Report,'' which came out last November, told us what had improved and also what got worse. Some things were better: 4th and 8th grade math achievement had improved; preschoolers were read to and told stories more than they used to be; according to the statistics we have, threats and injuries to students in schools had declined somewhat. Some things, however, had become worse. For example, 12th grade reading achievement had declined; fewer teachers had degrees in the subjects they were teaching; student drug use and the sale of drugs in our schools had increased. The overall conclusion of that report last year was--this is a quote from the report--it says: On the whole, our progress toward the National Education Goals has been modest.…”