List of Available Reports

This page provides a brief description and electronic access to a variety of publications issued by the National Education Goals Panel.

Reports with a listed below are in a PDF format and can be viewed using Acrobat Reader. The software is available free from Adobe. If you do not have the software, click on the "Get Acrobat Reader" icon and follow the instructions given there.

  • Goals Reports
    Includes the annual reports designed to measure the amount of progress made by the nation and the states toward the eight National Education Goals. Also includes a special state-by-state reports on math and science achievement and reading achievement.

  • Education Goals and Reform
    Includes reports on public opinion and professional judgments on the contributions of the National Education Goals to the current education reform movement.

  • Lessons From The States
    A series of publications from the Goals Panel that describes effective state practices for improving education.

  • Early Childhood Reports
    Includes a series of reports aimed at assisting states and districts in making progress toward Goal 1 - Ready to Learn.

  • Standards and Assessments
    Includes reports aimed at supporting states in raising academic standards and developing assessments. Included in this section is a report that provides an analysis of the process and criteria used by the AFT, CBE, and the Fordham Foundation for judging state standards.

  • The Community Action Toolkit
    Contains a series of guidebooks designed to encourage and support local education reform efforts.

  • 10th Anniversary Publications
    Documents associated with the 10th anniversary of the National Education Goals Panel.

Goals Reports

1999 National Education Goals Report
Offers an analysis on the 34 state indicators and provides the following information for each: the states that have made improvements over time, the states that are considered the top performers, and the states that are considered the most improved.

1999 Data Volume for the National Education Goals Report
Includes four pages of data per state and examines each state's progress toward 33 measures across the eight National Education Goals.

Reading Achievement State by State, 1999
Summarizes progress (based on results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress - NAEP) each state has made toward Goal 3, the student achievement and citizenship goal, in the area of Reading. This report includes two pages of information for each state which shows how much progress each state has made over time; how each state's latest academic performance compares to that of the United States and other states; and how different subgroups of students performed on the most recent NAEP Assessment.

1998 National Education Goals Report
Offers a new analysis on the 33 state indicators and provides the following information for each: the states that have made improvements over time, the states that are considered the top performers, and the states that are considered the most improved.

1998 Data Volume for the National Education Goals Report
Includes four pages of data per state and examines each state's progress toward 33 measures across the eight National Education Goals.

Mathematics And Science Achievement State By State, 1998
Summarizes progress (based on results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress - NAEP) each state has made toward Goal 3, the student achievement and citizenship goal, and Goal 5, the mathematics and science goal. Also includes data from the 1998 TIMSS/NAEP research study.

1997 National Education Goals Report

1997 Summary: Mathematics and Science Achievement for the 21st Century
Examines the performance of U.S. students on recent international assessments in mathematics and science and provides recommendations for improving student achievement in these subject areas.

1996 National Education Goals Report

1996 Executive Summary: Commonly Asked Questions about Standards and Assessments
Presents examples of actual state academic standards and assessments and provides information to help parents understand how higher standards and new forms of assessment will affect their own children.

1995 National Data Volume (Vol. 1)

1995 State Data Volume (Vol. 2)
These data volumes include more comprehensive sets of measures to describe our progress at the national level and the amount of progress that individual states have made against their own baselines.

1995 Executive Summary: Improving Education Through Family-School-Community Partnerships
Focuses on the essential role that families play in helping to achieve the National Education Goals and suggests ways in which schools can involve them in partnerships to increase our chances of reaching our targets. Highlights promising family-school-community involvement practices in several schools.

Education Goals and Reform

The Road to Charlottesville - The 1989 Education Summit

National Education Goals: Lessons Learned, Challenges Ahead

Summing It Up: A Review of Survey Data on Education and the National Education Goals
A Report from Public Agenda by Jean Johnson and Claire Aulicino. An analysis of recent public opinion research on education and the public schools, this paper attempts to locate recent opinion data on the eight National Education Goals, and offers some brief suggestions concerning communicating with the public about the National Goals and stimulating a more engaging and constructive discussion on ways to achieve them.

The National Education Goals Panel: Purposes, Progress, and Prospects By Richard F. Elmore
Based on recent papers by the eight Goal Resource Group Leaders, this paper looks across the eight Goals and discusses the significance of the National Education Goals for education in the context of recent history of education policymaking in the United States. It also discusses some major lessons the author believes the Panel should take away from the process of setting goals and measuring progress, and provides some options for the future.

Lessons From The States

Raising Achievement and Reducing Gaps: Reporting Progress Toward Goals for Academic Achievement in Mathematics

March Toward Excellence: School Success and Minority Student Achievement in Department of Defense Schools

Raising Achievement and Reducing Gaps: Reporting Progress Toward Goals for Academic Achievement
Raising Achievement and Reducing Gaps: Reporting Progress Toward Goals for Achievement, provides a new analysis of student achievement scores for states on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP. The report analyzes state NAEP data to identify state trends in performance as well as changes in the student achievement gap between whites and minority (black and Hispanic) and top and bottom quartiles. Among other findings, the analysis does show that states are making more progress in mathematics achievement than in reading.

Promising Practices: Progress Toward the Goals, 2000 details successful practices and policies in place in 20 states that have made significant progress and demonstrated high achievement in one or more of the Eight National Education Goals. This publication "tells the story" behind the data. View the state fact sheets here.

Bringing All Students to High Standards: Report on National Education Goals Panel Field Hearings

Bringing All Students to High Standards - NEGP Policy Recommendations Adopted December 7, 2000

Minnesota & TIMSS, Exploring High Achievement in Eighth Grade Science
This case study in an in-depth examination of why eighth grade science students in Minnesota were second only to Singapore in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS). The authors of the study identify several characteristics of science education that are unique to Minnesota that explain the state's world-class performance in 8th grade science. These characteristics include: high expectations for all students; focus and coherence in curriculum; alignment fostered by the existence of de facto science standards; continuity; and capacity within the teaching profession.

Strategies for Meeting High Standards: Quality Management and the Baldrige Criteria in Education

Promising Practices: Progess Toward the Goals 1999

Exploring High and Improving Reading Achievement in Connecticut - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
A case study by Joan Boykoff Baron that looks at state and local policies and practices in effect in Connecticut in the 1990s, the period NAEP and a parallel state test document high and improved reading performance among all subgroups in the state. Interviews document the classroom approaches used in local districts that showed the greatest improvement on the state reading test. Reid Lyon of the National Institutes of Health, David Grissmer of RAND, and the National Institute for Literacy comment on the public policy lessons for other states.

Promising Practices: Progress Toward the Goals, 1998
Uses Goals Panel data to identify states that are among the top performers and top improvers and "tells the story" behind the data. Includes programs and policies that officials in 20 states believe contributed to statewide improvements.

Talking About Tests: An Idea Book for State Leaders, 1998
Assists state leaders in communicating with parents about the need for higher standards and tougher tests and reporting individual student results in meaningful ways. Provides examples of good communication through the use of individual state examples and "close-ups" (in-depth stories).
Please Note: Sections of "Talking About Tests: An Idea Book for State Leaders" include individual student score reports that are copyrighted and may not be duplicated.

Exploring Rapid Achievement Gains in North Carolina and Texas, by David Grissmer and Ann Flanagan
North Carolina and Texas produced the largest average gains in the nation on NAEP reading and mathematics assessments administered between 1990 and 1996. This publication reports on case studies in both states that seek to identify the policy initiatives and policy environments that plausibly account for those gains.

Early Childhood Reports

Ready Schools, 1998
After asking what makes children ready for school, this new report asks what makes elementary schools ready for children. In this report, grounded in current research, prominent educators recommend 10 keys to a ready school that will be of interest to all elementary schools, preschools, and communities.

Principles and Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments, 1998
How are states, schools and communities to gather good information about children from birth to 8, when they recognize the difficulty and potential inaccuracies of testing them? This report identifies the technical requirements for 4 assessment purposes and suggests specific ways to gather and use assessment data well.

Trends in Early Childhood Assessment Policies and Practices
How have state and local practices in testing young children changed since the late '80's? In 1996 Lorrie Shepard, Grace Taylor, and Lynn Kagan talked with officials in 50 states about changes and trends in early childhood assessments since a similar study of testing practices was done in 1988. "Trends in Early Childhood Assessment Policies and Practices" provided background for Goal 1 advisors when they began drafting "Principles and Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments."

Special Early Childhood Report, 1997
In support of the I Am Your Child public engagement campaign on behalf of children in their first three years, this special report is focused exclusively on Goal 1. It enhances the 10 indicators of state and national progress toward child health, family activities and preschool experiences with new data relating to children 0-2.

Getting a Good Start in School, 1997
Profiles five children to show how a child may be stronger in some dimensions than in others, yet still be considered ready for school.

Reconsidering Children's Early Development and Learning: Toward Common Views and Vocabulary
Describes five dimensions of early learning and development: physical well-being and motor development; social and emotional development; approaches toward learning; language development; and cognition and general knowledge.

Standards and Assessments

Report of the Measuring Success Task Force to the National Education Goals Panel, Governor John McKernan, Chair, February 24, 2001

The Reviews of State Content Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics:
A Summary and Review of Their Methods and Findings and Implications for Future Standards Development.

Implementing Academic Standards: these commissioned papers highlight current state and professional efforts to implement challenging academic standards.

Profile of 1994-95 State Assessment Systems and Reported Results
Published in June of 1996, the Profile offers a snapshot of state assessment systems during the 1994-95 school year.

Promises to Keep: Creating High Standards for American Students
Published in 1993, this document offers a set of review criteria for academic content standards and performance standards.

The Community Action Toolkit

Getting Out Your Message
Features information to increase the impact of grass-roots communication techniques and media relation activities -- including tips on how to craft messages, generate visibility and make news that will inform public opinion.

Community Organizing Guide
Details a step-by-step process to mobilize communities to achieve their goals. Each element of a successful community action plan is described -- including suggestions on how to identify a leadership team, develop a common vision, create and implement strategies, identify resources, troubleshoot, and evaluate results.

Local Goals Reporting Handbook
Describes how to set up a local reporting process to track progress in education reform -- similar to the process used by the National Education Goals Panel in issuing its annual report. Community leaders will find references, sources and helpful ideas to use in collecting data and preparing a local goals report.

10th Anniversary Publications

Building on the Momentum...

Tenth Anniversary Program

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NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL
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(202) 724-0015 -- (202) 632-0957
NEGP@ed.gov