No. 24, May 1995 U.S. Department of Education
(see inside)
"The high school in my hometown of Rutland, Vermont, isn't apt to compare itself with Bonn or Beijing, but to those of its neighboring towns," Jeffords said in opening remarks. "That's not good enough. They're not the competitors."
The summit opened with a roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C. that was broadcast via satellite to eleven other participating cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. The voices of parents, educators, students, business and community leaders, and local, state, and national elected officials were represented in the discussion, which was moderated by distinguished journalist and television commentator, Hedrick Smith. Deputy Secretary of Education Madeleine Kunin, Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Governor Roy Romer of Colorado, and Governor John Engler of Michigan were among the roundtable participants.
A reflection of problems in education from the business world was offered by Alan Wurtzel, vice-chairman of Circuit City Stores. He said that when Circuit City recruits workers for its retail stores, 15 to 20 people must be interviewed for every job that is filled. These positions do not require a college education, but, according to Wurtzel, most people interviewed lack the basic abilities to read, write, interact with the public, and think and solve problems.
George Tignor, 1994 Principal of the Year, suggested that business can be an important partner in raising the level of student performance in schools. "I'd like to see the local businesses say, 'I'm not going to hire somebody if I don't see a transcript, an attendance record, and a discipline record.'"
The need to build local partnerships between schools and businesses, parents, and community groups was cited by many participants in the summit. Hugh Price, president of the National Urban League, suggested that effective communication is essential to getting broader community involvement in school improvement. "We need a clear vision of the competencies we want children to have and the kind of education that will nurture those competencies. That vision has to be comprehensible to lay people, and it has to be communicated aggressively."
Despite discussion of difficult challenges facing American
education, the overall tone of the summit was positive. "While it
is important to point out what's wrong in order to get people
motivated, it's also very important to point out what's right,"
said Deputy Secretary Kunin. "In order to replicate success, you
have to be able to applaud it, and you have to be able to recognize
it." 
The hour-long Town Meeting will be broadcast live on Tuesday, May 16 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time. The program is closed-captioned and is simulcast in Spanish.
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and Deputy Secretary Madeleine Kunin will host a conversation with a panel of guests who have led efforts to respond to diverse student populations in their schools and communities. Topics of discussion will include how schools can address the needs of students with varied language backgrounds, abilities, learning styles, and physical capabilities; how parents and schools can work together to make schools more welcoming to all families; and how training can support teachers and administrators in incorporating students with diverse needs into the classroom.
The Department of Education produces the Satellite Town Meeting series in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Sponsors of the 1994-95 series include Bayer Corporation, The Procter and Gamble Fund, SC Johnson Wax, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Satellite coordinates are as follows ....
"The children of this nation are seeds of greatness for this country of ours. Some of them land in rocky soil, and others land, fortunately, in fertile soil. But to my mind, they all have potential. Our task is to help all of them grow so that wherever they land is a place that gives them challenging high standards and helps build standards of character. Here in this United States of America in 1995, there must be no weeds in the gardens of our schools."
Education Secretary Richard Riley
Key to the Future Summit
Washington, D.C.
April 5, 1995
Editor's note: Deputy Secretary Madeleine Kunin contributed this piece about the family's key role in preparing children for success in school and in life.
While the country is engaged in a heated debate over what to do
about welfare, it's time to revisit a common sense answer that
begins at home -- helping parents to enable children to start
school ready to learn. The biggest difference between success and
failure in school and in life is made in those early years.
The most important part of a child's education is not the first day of school, but the pre-school years, when intelligence, health, and confidence are shaped. That is when parents can enable their children to overcome the disadvantages of poverty and give them an equal chance to become productive, self sufficient citizens.
The evidence that early childhood education makes a lasting difference is powerful. The High Scope Foundation's Perry Preschool Project found that preschool participation increased the percentages of persons at the age of 19 who were literate, enrolled in postsecondary education and were employed. It decreased the percentage labeled mentally retarded, school drop outs, and on welfare.
At age 27, the differences between the control group and children who participated in preschool were even more dramatic: higher incomes, higher percentage of home ownership, higher level of schooling completed, lower percentage receiving social services, and fewer arrests.
Not only do children do better when they get good health care, love and nurturing at an early age, but parents improve their own chances for success as well. A program called Even Start, which teaches both parenting and literacy skills to parents, produces win/win results. Children make significant gains in verbal IQ scores and parents get their GED's in great numbers. Most significantly, parents remain involved in their children's education, a key factor in academic success for all children, regardless of income.
We don't need new studies or further research to tell us that early childhood education is the best investment we can make. It is the first and most important goal of the national education goals: every child will start school ready to learn.
Support of Head Start, and related programs like Even Start, the
Parents as Teachers program in Missouri, and the HIPPY program
(Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters) have
demonstrated their effectiveness. Now is the time to take this
experience and apply it on a larger scale so that every child gets
off to a good start -- the best insurance this country could have
against long term adult dependency, called welfare.
Rod Woodson, arguably the best cornerback in NFL history, returned to his high school alma mater in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in March to help launch a motivational program called "Straight Talk About School." Woodson, who graduated from Purdue University in 1987, did not sugarcoat his college experience for the student body at Snider High School. "The main thing I liked about college was football practice," said Woodson, whose statement was met with laughter. "But, I hung in there with my course work. If I didn't have the grades, I couldn't play on the team. And if I couldn't play on the team, I wouldn't have been considered for the NFL draft."
"Straight Talk" was developed by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the GTE Foundation to help junior high and high school students cope with pressures that can interfere with their studies or that can result in drug abuse or violence. The Straight Talk model includes parents, business leaders, community members, students, teachers, and school administrators in an open discussion of barriers to success. Snider High School is the first of four Straight Talk model sites designated by NASSP and GTE.
Rod Woodson is just one athlete delivering the Straight Talk message to students across the country. Straight Talk also utilizes the GTE Academic All-America Team (college varsity players that maintain at least a 3.2 grade point average) as spokespersons. These college athletes talk to students about adding balance to their lives, managing stress, achieving their goals, and improving study habits.
Before addressing students at Snider High School, Rod Woodson spoke to a packed audience of 350 parents. "Your kids are under stress. That's why they do some of the crazy things they do," he said. "Straight Talk is the tool kit that helps kids cope with the pressure."
Straight Talk reaches approximately one million students in an
estimated 5,000 junior high and high schools across the country.
For additional information about the program, call 1-800-315-5010.
During the past six months, a steering committee comprised of the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE), business representatives and community organizations worked with the Education Department on a strategic plan that will serve as a guide for all groups and organizations interested in signing on to the national Family Involvement Partnership for Learning. The five goals of the strategic plan include the following:
"...The fourth Sunday of every July shall be established as 'Parents' Day'.... All private citizens, organizations, and governmental and legislative bodies... are encouraged to recognize Parents' Day through proclamations, activities and educational efforts in furtherance of recognizing, uplifting, and supporting the role of parents in the rearing of their children."
Joint Resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S.
Senate
103rd Congress
Both U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley and Florida Governor Lawton Chiles sent welcoming messages to the program that stressed the importance of ready-to-learn efforts. Deputy Secretary Madeleine Kunin opened the discussion by talking to parents in the studio audience about how they see their role in helping their children to be ready to learn. The parents were members of the Florida PTA, and throughout the nation, local PTAs were watching the broadcast and holding discussions.
"Readiness to learn has to include much more than just the ABCs," said Cathy Powers, a mother of five and coordinator of WLRN's Ready to Learn campaign, which is part of a national initiative of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. "You have to develop in children a curiosity about their world. That starts with every parent looking at their child and saying, 'What else can we do in this situation to extend learning?'"
Audience members agreed that reading with children was one of the most important ways that families could help prepare them for success in school. Parents offered tips about how reading could be incorporated into families' busy lives by having children practice reading signs while riding in a car or bus or reading recipes while meals are being prepared. "Reading fifteen minutes a day makes a lifelong difference," said Deputy Secretary Kunin.
Panelist Wil Blechman, a retired doctor from Miami, emphasized why parental efforts early on are so important. "The estimates are that about half of general intelligence occurs in the first four years," he said. "The brain will actually develop in different ways depending upon the way a child is handled." Blechman is past president of Kiwanis International, which has worked actively with other community groups on ready-to-learn projects.
In addition to the parental role, the Town Meeting explored what businesses and community groups can do to support early education. The audience saw a taped report on how one business in Miami, American Bankers Insurance Group, opened an innovative child care center and elementary school on its premises. Linda Vann, Director of Children's Services at the day care center, spoke of the win-win situation for everyone involved. "It's good for the company because it reduces absenteeism, turnover, and tardiness. It's good for the children because it's an excellent program."
The Town Meeting also discussed how television can be a positive tool for children's learning. Panelist Maria McDonald is Co-Chair of WLRN's Ready to Learn Steering Committee and past vice president of the Florida Preschool PTA. She explained how the Ready to Learn effort funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides parents with materials and activities so that educational television programs can be an interactive experience for children. When McDonald's chapter of the Preschool PTA was asked to do an analysis of the four major commercial television stations, the finding was that in 168 broadcast hours, a maximum of only two hours were educational.
Studio audience member Anne Thompson, president of the Florida PTA, suggested that a variety of family activities can be educational. "It's the time you spend with your children that counts. We're so busy and so pressured that we have to make an effort to stop and make time for them."
A packet of materials is available on helping children to be ready
to learn, including useful tips, brochures on what families,
businesses and communities can do, and examples of successful
programs. Write to the GOALS 2000 Information Resource Center,
U.S. Department of Education, Room 2421, 600 Independence Ave.,
S.W., Washington, D.C., 20202.
"Virtually every job in Mobil Corporation today requires higher level math and science," said Henry Halaiko, Mobil's Manager of Education Programs. "Many of the students enrolled in Beaumont's schools now will be working in the year 2050. We know that changes in technology will drive changes in the shape of their jobs."
Operation Breakthrough is being piloted at five school sites in Beaumont: Martin, Homer Drive, and Curtis Elementary Schools; Marshall Middle School; and West Brook Senior High. Successful results are already emerging. Student enrollment in algebra increased by 62 percent over the last two years. Math test scores improved by 10 percent for seventh grade students after one year of the program, and fourth- and eighth-grade students also showed improvement.
Planning for Operation Breakthrough began in 1993, when focus groups were conducted for a wide range of stakeholders in the community, including students, parents, teachers, principals, business, labor, and the media. The focus groups were led by the Educational Development Center, an educational research and development firm.
"The method was to allow the community to shape the breakthrough," Halaiko said. Each focus group was presented with the following question: What would it take to dramatically improve math and science achievement in Beaumont -- in other words, to create a breakthrough?
The program will be expanded to 10 schools by next fall. "We've
already begun moving it district-wide," said Assistant
Superintendent of Beaumont Schools Lorraine Carswell. "Operation
Breakthrough has been the impetus for systemic change in math and
science in our district."
Five states have submitted their comprehensive reform plans to the Education Department. Kentucky, Oregon, and Utah plans are approved and are now eligible for second year funding under GOALS 2000.
For more information on your state's planning process, or to find
out how you can get involved, contact your chief state school
officer.
[Table of Contents]