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Congress Approves Landmark Education Bill
Helen Dewar
December 31, 2001
Congress gave final approval to landmark education legislation that would
use federal aid as leverage to force improvements in low-performing schools
and ensure more help for needy students. The bill, championed by President
Bush and supported by most Democrats, was approved by the Senate, 87 to 10,
a week after the House gave it overwhelming bipartisan support. Bush, who
made the issue a dominant feature of his campaign and a top priority for
his first year in office, hailed passage of the bill and said he will sign
it early next year. Democrats, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.),
chairman of the Senate's education committee, praised Bush for making
education a priority and for his willingness to compromise to get a bill.
The legislation, which many regard as the most far-reaching federal school
measure since passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in
1965, would require state-administered testing of every student in grades 3 through 8 in reading and mathematics, along with national testing of a smaller sample to provide a benchmark for assessing a school's performance. States would also have to measure progress of subgroups, including minority and poor children.
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