C O V E R S T O R Y
What were the risks of a national test?
A national test would inexorably lead to a national curriculum. As Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO) predicted on the Senate floor, “Once you let Washington decide what kids should know, it will effectively control what and how they are taught.”
There is no proven relationship between academic standards and national testing. “Better speedometers do not make for faster cars,” declared Congressman Bill Goodling (R-PA) in leading the House opposition to the Clinton administration’s doomed plan;
And when the Clinton administration responded that the tests were merely “voluntary,” Goodling said, “Nonsense! What federal program do my colleagues know, once it was started, is [still] voluntary?”
The administration would be running roughshod over the constitutional process if Congress did not ban national testing in its tracks. “The White House lacks both constitutional and congressional authority to spend money on national tests,” said Home School Legal Defense Association President Mike Farris. He also pointed out that federal national tests would be “a waste of money” because many privately-developed voluntary national tests are already widely available and in current use.
R E L A T E D I T E M S
Home Schoolers Win Ban on National Test
National Testing Time Line
Victory Letter from Bill Goodling
A Mixed Bag: The 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Bill
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