The National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program A Nation at Risk in 1983 focused national attention on the American educational system. Other reports followed, describing the failures of the educational system and the implications for America's economic future. In response to the many reports criticizing American education, former President George Bush and the Governors Council, chaired by then-Governor Bill Clinton, announced six national education goals. These goals are being implemented under President Clinton's administration and the U.S. Department of Education's Goals 2000 program. These standards reflect a consensus of mathematicians and mathematics educators of how mathematics curriculum must be reformed.
Emphasis is placed on active mathematics learning, based on students' natural curiosity.
NCTM in 1991 released a companion standards on the teaching of mathematics. Science educators followed the lead of NCTM and have developed national standards for science. This report describes Project 2061, a plan to determine long-term science and mathematics needs of students. Project 2061 has identified a small number of common themes, such as constancy and scale, on which future curricula would be based. Scope, Sequence, and Coordination eliminates the traditional layer cake curriculum and science is taught in a manner that identifies the connections between the science disciplines.