Why national standards and tests? : politics and the quest for better schools

The common view today is that state schools are not good enough, and that something must be done to make them better. Setting academic standards is one way to raise the educational achievement of students. Jennings gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at how congress and the Executive Branch have wrestled with this issue, and reviews the major debates about whether or not there should be testable national standards for all American schools.