As adults, today's students will have to deal with emerging problems societal changes are creating. Improving public education for all will require educational reform that better accommodates under-served American youth. This chapter discusses the educational standards movement, which assumes that virtually all learners can achieve educational benchmarks through assessments at set points in the elementary- and secondary-school continuum. Most states cap that with high-stakes testing near the conclusion of high school. This chapter addresses the approach in New York state as an example of what is occurring across the nation. It is proposed that changes in the current American school model must accommodate the difference-of-kind educational demands faced as we enter a new century and millennium. The goal for all American students to achieve higher standards will require a school paradigm that is, in some respects, similar to those in Germany and Japan. American teachers need extended time and opportunity to plan instructional means that increase success across the range of their students. (Contains 16 references.) (GCP)