A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

            FOR RELEASE                    Contact: Rick Miller   February 25, 1997                    (202) 401-3026 

Moving quickly to advance President Clinton's call for mastering the basics in America's schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley today announced a series of meetings that will give the public an opportunity to offer comments and suggestions on a national reading test in grade 4 and a national math test in grade 8.

Three weeks ago, in his State of the Union address [Feb. 4 ], President Clinton said, "I issue a challenge to the nation: every state should adopt high national standards, and by 1999, every state should test every 4th grader in reading and every 8th grader in math to make sure these standards are met.

"Raising standards will not be easy," the president continued, "and some of our children will not be able to meet them at first. The point is not to put our children down, but to lift them up. Good tests will show us who needs help, what changes in teaching to make, and which schools need to improve."

The public meetings will be held at the Education Department headquarters [600 Independence Ave. SW, Room 2411]. A Wednesday meeting [Feb. 26, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m] will feature a panel of test publishers. State and local officials will form a panel at a meeting on Friday [Feb. 28, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.]. An additional public meeting will be held next Tuesday [March 4, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.].

Riley said the department will award contracts this fall to develop the tests. The contracts will require the test developers to convene independent panels of successful reading and math teachers, parents, business representatives, state and local officials, and other experts to advise them on content, assessment and interpretation of results.

The reading test will be linked to the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the math test will be linked to the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. Thus, parents and teachers will be able to compare performance to nationally recognized reading standards and internationally established standards for math.

The tests will be conducted under license agreements with test publishers, states and school districts that spell out all procedures to be followed in administering and scoring the tests.

The tests will be available in spring 1999, with results available to parents in the fall. New tests will be prepared annually.

Riley noted that participation in the tests will be voluntary and no personally identifiable information will be provided to the federal government .

In his fourth annual State of American Education address [Feb. 18 at the Carter Center in Atlanta], Riley said, "All of our research tells us that reading well by the 4th grade and having good math skills -- including algebra and some geometry -- by the 8th grade are critical turning points in the education of our young people.

"Reading is reading. Math is math. These proposed tests are an opportunity and not a requirement; they are a national challenge and not a national curriculum."

In making the announcement Riley said, "I wish my friend Al Shanker were here to lend a hand in this important work." Shanker was a vigorous champion of standards and testing. The long time leader of the American Federation of Teachers died Saturday [Feb. 22] in New York.

-###-