New 'Goals 2000' Bill Excises State Standards Requirement

By Mark Pitsch

Washington

A new version of the Clinton Administration's education-reform plan, which could reach the Senate floor as early as this week, would not require states to establish standards for curricular content and student performance--a key change to the Administration's proposal and the bill that emerged from a Senate committee.

Under the new version of the "goals 2000: educate America act,'' states seeking to qualify for new federal education-reform grants would still have to submit plans to the Education Department describing how they would help students...