Other participating schools
School districts that have volunteered to take part include the nation's three largest: New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Others participating are: Atlanta; Broward County, Fla.; Detroit; El Paso, Texas; Fresno, Calif.; Houston; Long Beach, Calif.; Omaha, Neb.; Philadelphia, San Antonio and Seattle.
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Cincinnati Public Schools is among 15 big-city systems that have joined President Clinton's push for national school standards.
The schools have pledged to participate in voluntary national tests in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math to measure student performance across the nation.
''This commitment means that 3.5 million more children - one out of every 14 public school children in America - will be held to these world-class education standards in the basics,'' Mr. Clinton said Friday in an address before the National Association of Elementary School Principals.
CPS representatives at the session included school board President Lynn Marmer, Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Tom Mooney and Kathleen Ware, the district's director of quality improvement.
Mr. Mooney said he supported the decision to adopt uniform high standards and give the exam.
''It's consistent with the standards-based reform we've been implementing in Cincinnati,'' he said. ''Students in other developed countries consistently outperform our kids primarily because those countries have clear, national education standards and rigorous standards that are well known ... ''
Ms. Marmer agreed: ''These are not federal standards; they're not being set by the federal government. They are national standards. They recognize that children in Ohio, in Georgia, in New York, in California, in the world, need to learn at the same level.''
Mr. Clinton used his address to prod governors for ''dragging their feet'' on joining the move toward voluntary national standards and performance exams.
