Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 29, 1990                   TAG: 9007290073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: MOBILE, ALA.                                LENGTH: Medium

GOVERNORS OFFER PLANS FOR EDUCATION

The National Governors' Association's education task force said ability grouping in early grades makes "low expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies" and tracking in high school leaves far too many students "unprepared for either work or post-secondary education."

It marks the first time that the governors have called for abandonment of the ability grouping and tracking schemes many schools use to classify diverse student bodies.

Even as the report was released, a backstage battle broke into the open over the structure and independence of the group that is supposed to monitor how well the state and federal governments are fulfilling the commitment made at President Bush's education "Summit" with the governors last fall.

The governors and the White House have been negotiating to form a joint task force of governors and administration officials, but had not reached agreement on representation from the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Saturday, House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, complicated those negotiations by asserting, in a letter, that the monitoring commission should be established by law and include private citizens with expertise in education.

White House Chief of Staff John Sununu said in an interview earlier in the week, "The last thing we need is . . . another layer, another bureaucratic structure, another review body."

The issue has been simmering since the governors met with Bush at the Charlottesville education "summit" last fall. They promised annual report cards on their progress, but left unresolved the question of who would determine the grades.