The full title of this document is Ideas for Tomorrow, Choices for Today: Policy of the Committee on the First One Hundred Days.

This document is posted here on the Federal Education Policy History website because it includes an entry on education that expresses the perspective of many Republicans of the time. Page 20 speaks of education as “an investment in a healthy democracy and a growing economy.” It also makes a case for “tuition tax credits” to help families choose “independent” (i.e., private) schools, which provide “diversity and competition” (for public schools).

As the address on the rear of the booklet indicates, this is no private sector, think tank document. The House Republican Research Committee published this document, which was authored by the Committee on the First Hundred Days. These aforementioned groups are what as known as “congressional member organizations.”  This document is, as page 63 notes, what House Republican leaders were presenting as “a set of policy alternatives for the 99th Congress and beyond.”

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The National Council on Education Standards and Testing was established by Congress in 1991 (P.L. 102-62; 102 Stat. 305). It may have had the worst acronym for any governmental entity ever—NCEST.

The council was created for the purpose of providing “advice on the desirability and feasibility of national standards and testing in education.”

NCEST had 32 members, most of whom were appointed by the Secretary of Education. NCEST was tasked with issuing its report by December 31, 1991.

The National Council On Education Standards and Testing (NCEST) met its deadline, publishing Raising Standards for American Education, which advocated national standards and assessments. RAND took issue with the findings, offering critical testimony before Congress. NCEST’s statute authorized $1 million in appropriations to do its work, and required it to disband 90 days after submission of its report.