A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Build on Existing Efforts

Many communities and schools have already begun organizing to reach the National Education Goals or similar goals. They've formed steering committees, usually with a task force on each Goal. Some of these committees and task forces have already offered a set of recommendations to their communities.

These groups and their work may serve as a starting point for developing your community's or school's GOALS 2000 plan. So may the efforts of other reform-minded groups in your community. The idea is to pull all the existing efforts in your schools and community into one comprehensive plan.

You'll want to integrate new initiatives, too, as well as resources from various state, local, and federal programs. Bringing school-to-work programs, professional development, special education, and other community-based ventures together around a shared vision of what the community wants for its children -- that is what GOALS 2000 is about.

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What's the appeal of GOALS 2000? One businessman put it like this:

"Dozens of partnerships, school-improvement and adopt-a-school efforts are already in place in our community. But they're not coordinated. The community challenge gives us a starting place for bringing all these pieces together around a common set of goals -- the National Education Goals -- so that all our efforts are pushing in the same direction."

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Some communities and schools have already taken their first steps. Others have yet to begin. Regardless of where you are in the process, GOALS 2000 says to every school and community:

• Start with what you have.
• Build on your strengths.
• Create partnerships with teachers and principals, parents and businesses, and other citizens.
• Gear your schools to world-class standards of excellence for every child.

[An Invitation] [How GOALS 2000 Works]