1999 National Education Summit Overview

Friday, October 15, 1999Printer-friendly version

The 1999 National Education Summit brought together governors, business leaders, and education professionals from across the states to: reaffirm that standards, assessment and accountability are the guiding forces to improving education; and discuss the challenges facing educators and policymakers as they work to implement standards and assessments that are now in place nearly every state in the nation. Summit participants focused on the true aim of the standards movement: not simply writing standards and measuring them, but helping all students achieve them. To reach this goal, Summit participants identified three key challenges facing U.S. schools - improving educator quality, helping all students reach high standards, and strengthening accountability - and agreed to specify how each of their states would address these challenges.