In the mid-1990s, standards-based education in the U.S. was enacted under the Clinton administration, and further refined under President George W. Bush. The legislation sought to improve American student performance by instituting more rigorous testing, and by holding schools accountable for student performance on these tests. However, since each state had its own process for creating and implementing educational standards, the content that students were expected to learn in one state was sometimes vastly different from the expectations in another state.
Peggy's companion column: