The Education Deficit. A Staff Report Summarizing the Hearing on 'Competitiveness and the Quality of the American Work Force,' Prepared for the Use of the Subcommittee on Education and Health of the Joint Economic Committee. Congress of the United States, 101st Congress, First Session, December 14, 1988.

Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.

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Back to Basics; Educational Benefits; Educational Change; Educational Improvement; Educational Needs; Educational Objectives; Educational Quality; Elementary Secondary Education; Excellence in Education; Hearings; Instructional Effectiveness; Outcomes of Education; Program Effectiveness; Quality of Life; School Effectiveness; Teacher Effectiveness

This staff report summarizes testimony on competitiveness and the quality of the American work force. The testimony was received during 9 days of hearings held between September 23 and December 3, 1987, that featured 52 witnesses including federal and state officials, educators, business and labor leaders, and scholars. Contents comprise prepared policy statements, policy recommendations, and a witness list framed by the notions that the United States is falling behind the rest of the industrialized world in promoting literacy, job skills, and educational achievement. Clear and consistent themes emerged from witnesses' testimony: (1) there must be an immediate response to today's changing demographics; (2) school building location, facilities, and services should complement the educational process in the schools; (3) serious consideration should be given to lengthening school hours, the school week, and the school year; (4) achievement in education needs to be redefined to extend beyond basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills to include problem solving and abstract reasoning; (5) both the private and public sectors must reexamine and update both general and vocational education to make the curriculum more relevant to labor market requisites; (6) teacher training must be improved; (7) active federal support will be required for research, development, demonstration, and information programs to strengthen education; (8) examination and analysis of policies on education, training, productivity, and employment must continue and progress; (9) teacher certification, student testing, and school-based management and decision-making must remain essentially state and local matters; and (10) greater opportunities are needed for early childhood education. (JAM)

1990

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