House Panel Likely To Adopt Student-Testing Measure

By Julie A. Miller

WASHINGTON--The House Education and Labor Committee appears likely to adopt legislation that would allow the development of a national assessment system for measuring student achievement.

But the panel is also likely to mandate that schools' performance be assessed against national standards, to require schools using the voluntary assessments to provide remedial assistance to low-scoring students, and to usurp some control of the process from the National Education Goals Panel.

Those ideas are all strongly opposed by the Bush Administration, and could draw a veto...