Includes bibliographical references and index.

The need to improve the schools : why raising student achievement through higher standards was first proposed. -- Origins of national standards and tests : how President Bush, corporate leaders, and the governors first advanced the idea of raising standards. -- The 1992 presidential campaign and the transition to a new administration : how Bush and Clinton differed on education, but how Clinton continued the fight for higher standards which Bush began. -- Goals 2000 in the U.S. House of Representatives : how liberals expressed concerns about the fairness of standards, and how conservative opposition to the idea grew. -- Goals 2000 in the Senate and the conference committee : how the concept of raising standards triumphed, but only after liberal concerns about equity lost, and increasingly strident conservative opposition was overcome. -- The Elementary and Secondary Education Act : how other federal programs were re-fashioned to raise standards, and how this victory further hardened the opposition of the political far-right. -- The conservative assault on raising standards to improve the schools : how the conservative opposition tried to undo standards-based reform and failed because Clinton, the business community, and governors fought back. -- The elections of 1996 and Clinton's second term : how the conservatives were rebuffed, and Clinton revived the idea of national standards and tests.