The Goals 2000 Educate America Act and the National Standards in Education

• Author: Radu, L.
• Position: Department of Foreign Languages, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 21-24

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 5 (54) No. 2 - 2012

THE GOALS 2000 EDUCATE AMERICA

ACT AND THE NATIONAL STANDARDS

IN EDUCATION

Lucian RADU1

Abstract: This paper is meant to outline the modalities in which The Goals

2000 Educate America. Act started the reform based on national standards in

American Education. After presenting the types of national standards focused

on Opportunity to Learn Standards, the paper analyzes how the national

standards are perceived in Romanian education, starting from a survey on

representative subjects.

Key words: content standards, performance standards, Opportunity to

learn standards, international standards.

1 Department of Foreign Languages, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Introduction

The Goals 2000 Educate America Act is

an example of how the Federal

Government uses the funds to mandate

state governments to undertake a certain

type of educational actions. The legislation

provides states funds to create reform

plans. If the States accept the funds they

must create voluntarily a reform plan,

including content standards, performance

standards and learning opportunities [4].

All these standards must have been

certified by the National Education

Standards and Improvement Council.

National Standards are often

international standards, because they are

designed so as to raise the labor force

educational level in the United States at the

level of other industrialized countries, so

that the United States becomes more

competitive in the international market. In

fact, international standards mean the

educational standards of developed

countries in Europe and Japan. To meet

these standards, the U.S. Government is

open for establishing a global curriculum

similar to that of all industrialized

countries. This curriculum is, in fact, the

curriculum required by the international

corporations. [4].

The reform of education was necessary

to allow the U.S. to face competition with

other countries. ‘Without the goals and

standards that GOALS 2000 provides we

won’t be able to rebuild our educational

system and begin competing in the

worldwide market’ [1].

2. Types of National Standards

Since 1989, various organizations have

formulated national standards for what a

student should know in a particular subject

such as Mathematics, History, Arts, etc...

These are content standards. It raises,