CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION During the 1980s, the public renewed Its Interest In the quality of education at all levels of the American educational system. Reasons for this Interest were the knowledge that student learning, currlcular coherence, the quality of facilities, faculty morale, and academic standards no longer measured up to expectations (National Institute of Education, 1984). Only half of the students starting college would actually attain the bachelor's degree. The scores on both the Scholastic Aptitude Test and the Graduate Record Examination were declining, and American students were not achieving at the same rate as their counterparts from other nations (National Institute of Education, 1984; Mavrogenes, 1977; Hirsch, 1987). The business world noted the lack of skills in written communication, mathematics, and critical thinking among its workers (Morgenthaler, 1986). Various commissions began to study the topic and produce documents on the state of education as well as recommendations for its improvement (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983; Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1985; President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies, 1979). Education or the lack of it in the United States was a popular issue during the 1980s, as evidenced by the presence of Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind (1987) and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy (1987) on bestseller lists. Educators, legislators, and the general public called for accountability in public education. Not only were they concerned over the funding of education (Grant and Rlesman,
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