When Bill Clinton made national standards and testing a centerpiece of his education agenda, the stars finally seemed aligned for this popular reform. Endorsements came from Republican leaders like Gov. John Engler of Michigan, a coalition of state school superintendents, and other education luminaries. National standards, they contend, will inspire higher performance among students and create consistency in a system presided over by 15,000-some separate school districts.
Opposition comes from the same camps that joined to defeat similar plans in the past.
Clinton tried to craft his plan to capture the political middle ground. He vowed that the tests would cover only reading and math, not controversial subjects like history. Despite the concessions, influential conservatives have attacked the president's plan as the beginning of the end of local authority over schooling. The next step, she warns, is for federal authorities to dictate sex-education and history curricula. Clinton faces another line of opposition from Rep. Bill Goodling, perhaps the most influential Republican on education issues and a man who originally endorsed the testing idea.