September 1989	The President and 50 Governors convene a historic Education Summit at Charlottesville, Virginia, and agree to set education goals for the nation.
February 1990	National Education Goals are announced by the President and adopted by the Governors. One of these Goals states that students will demonstrate competence in challenging subject matter and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; another Goal states that American students will be first in the world in math and science achievement.
July 1990	The President and Governors form the National Education Goals Panel to issue annual reports on the progress of the nation and states toward the 6 Goals.
March 1991	Six resource groups of national experts suggest specific data that would objectively measure progress toward the Goals; and where good data did not yet exist, recommend what new information is needed. One of these recommendations is to measure progress against voluntary national education standards. The Goals Panel releases Measuring Progress Toward the National Education Goals: Potential Indicators and Measurement Strategies which lists indicators that would best measure progress towards each of the Goals.
April - May 1991	Governors host eight regional public hearings across the country, gathering comments from education associations and the public on the selection of indicators.
June 1991	Congress establishes a National Council on Education Standards and Testing to explore the desirability and feasibility of establishing national education standards and a method to assess their attainment.
September 1991	The Goals Panel releases its first annual report on national and state progress toward the Goals.
January 1992	The report Raising Standards for American Education is released, which advocates setting world-class education standards and a voluntary national system of assessments. The Goals Panel releases Gauging High Performance: How to Use NAEP to Check Progress on the National Education Goals.
March 1992	The Goals Panel is reconstituted to include representatives from Congress as voting members and equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. The National Education Goals Panel releases Reactions to the Goal 1 Technical Planning Subgroup Report on School Readiness. The document summarizes reactions to the proposed creation of an early childhood assessment system, and in particular, to the in-school component of that system, consisting of a kindergarten year assessment. The Goals Panel releases Statewide Student Record Systems: Current Status and Future Trends. The report proposes the development of a Voluntary State/Local Student Record System involving standardized definitions of data elements and reporting formats at the local level.
July 1992	The Goals Panel releases the Goal 5 Technical Planning Subgroup on International Workforce Skills which focuses on the relation between our national investments in education and training and the results of those investments in terms of our ability to compete in the economic area. The Goals Panel issues a report on The Task Force on Assessing the National Goal Relating to Post-secondary Education which reflects the Task Force’s advice to the Panel on its charge, which was to investigate post-secondary assessment. The Goals Panel issues a report on Assessing Citizenship, The Goal 3 Technical Planning Subgroup on Citizenship. The report focuses on available indicators in these three areas in terms of needed definitions of what knowledge of citizenship is and how to demonstrate it.
September 1992	The Goals Panel releases its second annual report on national and state progress toward the Goals.
January 1993	The Goals Panel releases The Handbook for Local Goals report, which was designed to guide individuals as they begin developing a local assessment of their community’s progress toward the National Education Goals.
March 1993	The Goals Panel releases its report, Public Response to the 1992 Goals Report. This document summarizes the public response to the Panel's call for feedback on its work. The result of this effort is used by Goals Panel staff to improve future Reports to meet better the educational information needs of the nation.
April 1993	The Goals Panel releases the Resolution on Core Data Elements for Administrative Record Systems Report which notes that at the local level truly comparable indicators have not yet been developed. Such indicators can be a valuable tool both for monitoring local progress towards the Goals and in improving the quality of decisions about schools, classrooms, and students. The Goals Panel issues a report entitled Core Data Elements for Monitoring Progress Toward the National Education Goals. The report describes the need for a national student data reporting system for assessing students' completion of school.
May 1993	The Goals Panel convenes an advisory group headed by Shirley Malcom of the American Association for the Advancement of Science to recommend review criteria and procedures that might be used to certify national education standards.
July 1993	The Goals Panel issues a report, Achieving Educational Excellence by Increasing Access to Knowledge, which illustrates the use of network technology to help the nation and states achieve the National Education Goals.
September 1993	The Goals Panel hosts a public forum in St. Paul, MN, with the Malcom group advisors to solicit public comment on education standards. The Goals Panel releases its third annual report on national and state progress toward the Goals.
November 1993	The Malcom group submits its report, Promises to Keep: Creating High Standards for American Students to the Goals Panel. Panel members adopt a "statement of principles" endorsing voluntary academic national standards.
January - March 1994	The Goals Panel requests the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Alliance of Business to form task forces to comment upon Promises to Keep and extend the advice in it. Later, both a group of representatives from higher education and the standards development projects themselves are asked for their advice and comment.
March 1994	President Clinton signs the "Goals 2000: Educate America Act." The law codifies eight National Education Goals, adds state legislators to the Panel membership, and charges the Goals Panel with new responsibilities. It also establishes a National Education Standards and Improvement Council (NESIC) which, in conjunction with the Panel, will review and certify voluntary state and national education standards. The Goals Panel holds public hearings on standards in Las Cruces and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
April 1994	The Goals Panel co-sponsors School-to-Work Teleconference with Goethe Institute. The Goals Panel holds public hearings on standards in Pittsburgh, PA. First publication of Daily Report Card.
June 1994	The Goals Panel co-sponsors National Policy Forum on Adult Literacy.
September 1994	The Goals Panel releases its fourth annual report on national and state progress toward the Goals. The Goals Panel releases the Community Action Toolkit. The Goals Panel sponsors first in a series of teleconferences on achieving the Goals.
October 1994	The Goals Panel co-sponsors a conference with NAPSO on how to create safe, disciplined, and alcohol- and drug-free schools.
December 1994	The Goals Panel co-sponsors conference with Goethe Institute on solutions to violence and creates a Data Task Force.
January 1995	The Goals Panel forms Resource groups on Goals 4 and 8.
March 1995	The Goals Panel contracts with Coalition for Goals 2000 for private area on Goal Line.
April 1995	The Goals Panel issues The Report of the Goal Seven Task Force on Defining a Disciplined Environment Conducive to Learning. The report defines the components of Goal 7 and addresses the seventh National Education Goal as a necessary condition and a logical precursor for accomplishing the other seven National Education Goals.
June 1995	The Goals Panel issues Reconsidering Children’s Early Development and Learning: Toward Common Views and Vocabulary. The document lends greater specificity to each of the dimensions with the goal of ultimately achieving a common vocabulary that expresses current knowledge and common views about the needs of children and the nature of their development.
July 1995	The Goals Panel issues a Report of the Goal 4 Teacher Education and Professional Development Resource Group. The report discusses critical issues related to teacher education and professional development and recommends indicators for measuring progress to the Goals Panel. The Goals Panel issues a Report of the Goal 8 Parental Participation Resource Group. The report recommends indicators and strategies for measuring progress towards achieving parental participation. The Goals Panel issues Inventory of Academic Standards Related Activities. The report is an inventory of various organizations’ activities relating to academic standards. The Goals Panel issues the Report of the Data Task Force which ensures that data collection efforts are appropriate and directed toward filling the most critical data gaps in our knowledge about our educational progress. The report identifies and recommends strategies for filling the data gaps identified in the 1994 Goals Report and makes data more useful to policymakers.
November 1995	The Goals Panel releases its fifth annual report on national and state progress toward the Goals in four volumes. They are 1) The National Education Goals Panel: Building a Nation of Learners (Core Report), 2) The National Data Volume, 3) The State Data Volume, and 4) The Executive Summary. The Goals Panel releases its annual report on CD-ROM.
June 1996	The Goals Panel releases the Profile of 1994-95 State Assessment Systems and Reported Results. This profile offers a snapshot of where state assessment systems are today. It is user’s guide, answering some of the most basic questions about state systems. It describes some of the fundamental characteristics of current systems -- such as the subjects and grades that are being tested and the stated purpose of the various assessments. It also describes selected reporting practices at the state level.
November 1996	The Goals Panel releases its 6th annual Goals Report which focuses on two areas of education reform which are currently of great interest to states and local communities: standards and assessments. The Panel remains convinced that it will be impossible to achieve the Goals unless states and local communities demand more from their students by setting rigorous standards for student achievement and by designing new forms of assessment to determine whether students have mastered challenging subject matter. The good news is that the majority of states and a number of local school districts, both large and small, have been engaged in standards-setting and assessment development for quite some time. And those which are in the earlier stages of standards-setting and assessment development can expect increased support from the nation’s Governors and business leaders, who pledged in March 1996 to help states set their own standards and develop assessments within the next two years. NEGP launches its web site, www.negp.gov.
February 1997	The Goals Panel releases Getting a Good Start in School, a document based on Reconsidering Children's Early Development and Learning: Toward Common Views and Vocabulary.
July 1997	The Goals Panel releases Implementing Academic Standards – Papers Commissioned by the National Education Goals Panel, a report that includes information the Goals Panel assembled regarding standards implementation, especially in the areas of mathematics and science. The papers in this volume describe how states have recently implemented their standards, how textbooks and teaching could help students reach standards, and the resources and advice available from the professional organizations that developed national standards in mathematics and science.
November 1997	The Goals Panel releases its 1997 Goals Report which highlights student achievement in mathematics and science, two of the core academic subjects in which we expect all students to demonstrate competency. The promising news is that more of our students in Grades 4, 8, and 12 are considered proficient or advanced in mathematics than students were six years earlier. In addition, more of our college graduates are receiving degrees in mathematics and science. We attribute much of this success to the work that states and professional organizations have done to set rigorous academic standards for students. NEGP launches a newly redesigned web site, offering users the most up-to-date information on the eight National Education Goals, state-by-state comparisons, and access to NEGP's magazines -- the NEGP Weekly and the NEGP Monthly -- which provide up-to-the-minute coverage on what is being done to improve education in states and communities across the country.
February 1998	The Goals Panel releases Ready Schools. Ensuring that children start school ready to learn is vitally important. But ensuring that schools are ready for children is important as well. Recognizing that good education means both ready children and ready schools, the Goals Panel convened a special group of advisors and asked them to identify what makes a ready school. This report, Ready Schools, is a result of their efforts. It recommends 10 specific approaches found in successful elementary schools and documented by research to be keys to ready schools. The Goals Panel releases Principles and Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments. In the Goals Panel's authorizing legislation, Congress charged the Panel to support the work of its Goal 1 Advisors and charged them to "create clear guidelines regarding the nature, functions, and uses of early childhood assessments." Over the last 2 years, NEGP's Goal 1 advisors have led the work of the Panel’s Early Childhood Assessments Resource group. They conducted telephone interviews with the 50 states as to what current state and local assessment practices are. The report recognizes that policymakers need information, but that assessing young children presents special challenges that need to be taken into account. As the report says on page 5, "The principles and recommendations in this document are meant to help state and local officials meet their information needs well." Governor Underwood establishes the "Future of the Goals" Task Force. Chaired by Governors James B. Hunt (NC) and John Engler (MI), its mission is to develop a set of recommendations to the Panel that will form the basis of the Panel's recommendations to Congress on reauthorization.
May 1998	Recognizing the link between teacher quality and student achievement, the Goals Panel sends a letter to all Governors, chief state school officers, and legislative chairs of education committees recommending 6 actions they adopt for pre-service teacher education, teacher licensure, professional development, and principals' training to help students reach high academic standards. Includes examples and contact information on related state and local initiatives.
July 1998	The Goals Panel expands its web site to allow users to search its publications by field of interest. Also adds a section on promising programs organized by Goal area.
August 1998	The Goals Panel releases Review of State Content Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Realizing that there is confusion about how some groups have graded state standards (both the criteria and processes used), this publication offers an analysis of how the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Council for Basic Education (CBE), and the Fordham Foundation judged state standards. Offers an explanation of the differences in the grades given among the three groups in the 1997-98 reviews.
September 1998	The Goals Panel sends letters to every Governor and chief state school officer emphasizing the importance of data in decisionmaking. The letters identify areas where comparable state data are lacking and encourage states to participate in the surveys that generate the missing information. Governors and chiefs are also encouraged to have their states participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress and in the TIMSS-Replication assessment.
October 1998	Recognizing the value of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) as a tool for policymakers to monitor educational progress over time, the Goals Panel releases Mathematics and Science Achievement State by State, 1998. This publication highlights the 28 states that have successfully raised student achievement in mathematics (according to NAEP), and the 14 states (according to a recent research study) that would be expected to perform at world-class levels of performance in science.
December 1998	The Goals Panel releases the 1998 National Education Goals Report. This publication provides the most recent picture of progress by the nation toward the National Education Goals. Also presents an analysis of the states that have made improvements over time, the top performing states, and the most improved states on a set of 33 indicators. In addition, the Goals Panel releases the 1998 Data Volume, which provides more details on state progress toward the National Education Goals. The Goals Panel releases Promising Practices: Progress Toward the Goals, which examines more closely those states that are considered the "top performers" or the "most improved" states in 8 indicator areas across the 8 National Education Goals; offers insights as to the success of these states; includes interviews with state officials, examples of legislation, and national resources. The Goals Panel releases Talking About Tests: An Idea Book for State Leaders which provides recommendations on how states can improve the information parents receive about state tests, the underlying standards, and the reporting of individual student results. The Goals Panel hosts a national, interactive video teleconference which provides a forum for Panel members and education leaders from across the nation (through downlink sites in every state) to discuss and share lessons from the states about how to achieve the National Education Goals.
February 1999	In light of extensive customer input and the work of a special Task Force on the Future of the Goals, the Goals Panel unanimously adopts a resolution calling for continuation of the goals and the Goals Panel Beyond the year 2000. It also calls for the Goals to be renamed America’s Education Goals and the panel to be renamed American Education Goals Panel. Panel members hear presentations and discuss possible ways to set interim targets of performance and undertake value-added reporting of state education growth in future reports.