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The mid-1980s marked a major turning point in American educational policy. The ideology underpinning this shift asserted that America's educational system was undermining the nation's international competitive capacity. The new ideology's manifesto, A Nation at Risk, predicted in hyperbolic terms the demise of the United States as an international industrial leader if it did not correct major flaws in its system of public education. The urgency for massive school reform intensified with talk about the "new" global economy, the increasing economic competitiveness of Asian countries, and the emergence of a new world order based not on the "wealth of nations" but on the "work of nations" (Reich, 1991). As the visionaries of the new world order saw it, newly developing global economies would reward those countries and individuals who are highly educated and can add to the value of their nations' goods and services. Conversely, countries with poorly educated workers could expect economic stagnation and poverty. The stakes for school reform were nothing less than the United State's status as the world's richest and strongest economy.Requests for reprints should be sent to Thomas B. Timar,