CLINTON, GOVERNORS CALL FOR SCHOOLS TO ESTABLISH STRICTER STANDARDS, TESTS.Byline: Angie Cannon Knight-Ridder Tribune tribune, in ancient Rome, one of various officers. The history of the office of tribune is closely associated with the struggle of the plebs against the patrician class to achieve a more equitable position in the state. From c.508 B.C. News Wire The nation's governors Wednesday promised to set stronger academic standards and tests for public school students, but stopped short of heeding President Clinton's call for exams that students must pass to be promoted. At a national education summit, the president said states should end the widespread practice of ``social promotion,'' in which students progress to the next grade regardless of achievement. ``No more social promotions, no more free passes,'' Clinton said at the education summit in Palisades Palisades, cliffs along the west bank of the Hudson River, NE N.J. and SE N.Y., extending from N of Jersey City, N.J., to the vicinity of Piermont, N.Y., with a general altitude of from 350 ft to 550 ft (107–168 m). , N.Y. Clinton said students should pass tests to advance from elementary school elementary school: see school. , middle school and high school. He said the tests shouldn't measure just minimum competencies but also higher academic standards set by the schools. ``The worst thing you can do is send people all the way through school with a diploma DIPLOMA. An instrument of writing, executed by, a corporation or society, certifying that a certain person therein named is entitled to a certain distinction therein mentioned. 2. they can't read,'' Clinton said. Currently, only five states - Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. and Virginia - have tests that students need to pass for promotion. Seventeen states have tests to graduate from high school, assessing mainly minimum competencies, such as basic addition and subtraction subtraction, fundamental operation of arithmetic; the inverse of addition. If a and b are real numbers (see number), then the number a−b is that number (called the difference) which when added to b (the subtractor) equals and simple reading. Some educators said Clinton was simply trying to score political points in an election year with his proposal - especially because education is primarily a state and local matter. ``The problem is what do you do if they (students) aren't achieving the benchmark,'' said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of Great City Schools, a coalition of the nation's largest urban public school systems. ``Do you stop them or let them go forward?'' Most research suggests that students don't do better if the consequence is being held back, he said. ``If they are tutored or given additional help, it is a good thing,'' Casserly said. ``If they are simply held back and forced to repeat, they get discouraged dis·cour·age tr.v. dis·cour·aged, dis·cour·ag·ing, dis·cour·ag·es 1. To deprive of confidence, hope, or spirit. 2. To hamper by discouraging; deter. 3. and are inclined to drop out. The time they spend repeating doesn't give them more academically.'' As the two-day education summit concluded, the governors agreed to set new standards and tests, although they said both should be determined by local communities. ``By committing ourselves to local standards, we're saying that we're going to change the current situation that measures how much time students spend in their seats but not how much goes into their heads,'' said Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson For other people with similar names, see . Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941), a United States politician, was the 7th U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin. , the chairman of the National Governors' Association. He led the meeting with International Business Machines Corp. Chairman Louis Gerstner. Standards were pushed at a similar governors education summit in 1989 in Charlottesville, Va., but those standards in 13 subjects, such as English, mathematics, the arts, the sciences and history, have had little apparent impact on student achievement. ``The effort to have national standards, I think it's fair to say, has been less than successful,'' Clinton said Wednesday. Business leaders also promised that within one year they will require job applicants to prove their academic achievement through transcripts and diplomas. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion