Another positive trend in education cited by Riley is the growth of family involvement in education, which he has encouraged as one of his top priorities. A year ago, Riley launched the national Family Involvement Partnership for Learning, which now has more than 150 national organizations as members who are actively promoting the central role of families in learning. Member organizations include the John Hancock Insurance Company, Turner Broadcasting, the Walt Disney Company, the National PTA, and a broad range of religious institutions representing 75 percent of all religiously affiliated Americans.
This year Secretary Riley is continuing his focus on family involvement with his back-to-school initiative: America Goes Back To School: A Place for Families and the Community. The initiative, which is winning widespread support, encourages all Americans to find ways to get involved in their local schools throughout the year.
"I was so pleased to note that yesterday, when he had so many other things on his mind, our national hero, Cal Ripken, had as his first priority taking his five-year-old daughter Rachel to her first day at school," said Riley. "On the day that all eyes in America were on this outstanding athlete and role model, he had his eyes on letting his daughter know that her education, her school, and her principal were important to him."
Secretary Riley outlined the top two concerns that parents have regarding their children's education. The first is how to finance their children's college education. Riley cited a recent Gallup Poll that found that 98 percent of all parents expect their children to go on to college or to some form of higher education. He said the Education Department received three million calls about student aid last year alone, and the demand is growing.
Riley underscored the need to continue the new Direct Lending program, which is helping three million students finance their college education. "The President and I are committed to defending Direct Lending. It's a program that is good for the country and good for our colleges."
The second primary concern of parents, according to Riley, is how to prepare their children academically for the rigors of higher education and a complex world. Riley emphasized the importance of continued support for the GOALS 2000 program to address this concern. "We need to prepare our children for college and for life, and we will not prepare them if we lose our way and give up the battle for excellence and high standards. And that is what is at stake in the battle over GOALS 2000 ... and the future of education funding. Those of us who believe our children can and must learn to high standards and believe in safe and disciplined schools cannot let this happen."
"Let's tell the young people of this country and their families
that we believe in them and in their future," Riley said in
conclusion, "that we want the best for them -- and that we will do
all we can as Americans to give them the best education possible."
Interviews with Nicholas' parents and teacher paint a vivid picture of the cooperative effort between home and school in his education, which can serve as a model for other parents and educators. Nicholas' parents showed interest in what he was learning at school and made visits to his classroom. They used reading time at home and trips to the library to enrich his classroom experience.
Nicholas' parents hope that their son's life will be a legacy for other families to support the development of their children's talents to the fullest potential; they have donated the money they saved for Nicholas' college education toward this effort.
"Children develop at different speeds and in different ways," Nicholas' father states in the video. "To help a child who's having difficulty is rewarding. To help a child who's very good at something do even better can send the human spirit soaring. What a noble idea it is to try to provide the conditions so that every child can reach towards his potential."
"The Last Centurion" can be purchased for $17.50 (add sales tax in
Calif.), with all proceeds going to the NAGC Nicholas Green
Education Fund. Write to Corporate Productions, Inc., 4516 Mariota
Avenue, Toluca Lake, Calif., 91602. The phone number to order is
(818) 760-2622; the fax number is (818) 760-8619. For more
information on the National Association for Gifted Children,
contact Peter Rosenstein at (202) 785-4268.
The October Satellite Town Meeting will look at how businesses are working in partnership with schools to support challenging academic standards, real-world learning opportunities for students and teachers, and family involvement in education.
Entitled "Creative Business-Education Partnerships: How Business Can Support High Standards and World-Class Schools," the hour-long Town Meeting will air live on Tuesday, October 17, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time. The program is closed-captioned and is simulcast in Spanish.
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley and Deputy Secretary Madeleine Kunin will host a conversation with a panel of guests from communities across the country who have helped develop successful partnerships between businesses and schools. Topics of discussion will include how schools can approach businesses to create new partnerships, how family-friendly policies in the workplace can help schools connect with parents, and how businesses can assist schools with access to quality educational equipment and software so that students learn skills needed for the 21st century.
The Department of Education produces the Satellite Town Meeting series in partnership with the National Alliance of Business and the Center for Workforce Preparation with support from the Bayer Foundation and The Procter and Gamble Fund.
Satellite coordinates are as follows ....
"In virtually everything else we do in the United States, we set high standards and strive to be No. 1. Why not in education? ...We put a man in space because we set a goal that was beyond -- not within -- our grasp. We need the same approach for education. And we must be relentless in its pursuit. The lessons we understand so well in every other aspect of our lives must be translated into education or else we will lose."
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Chairman and CEO, IBM Corporation
Remarks at the National Governors' Association Annual Meeting
Burlington, Vermont
July 30, 1995
The President, cabinet members, members of Congress, governors, mayors, athletes, entertainers, astronauts, artists, military personnel, engineers, and members of the community at large have helped promote the back-to-school campaign. Secretary Riley is urging all Americans to carry this momentum throughout the entire school year and to stay involved in their local schools.
A resource entitled "The Partners' Activity Guide" is available to support your back-to-school efforts. Call 1-800-USA-LEARN for a free copy.
Do you have a back-to-school story or photo to share with Community Update
readers? Do you have ideas on how the positive momentum for back-to-school activities can
be maintained and how more Americans can become involved? Write us at the Family
Involvement Partnership for Learning, 600 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C.,
20202-8173.
Members of the family-friendly business working group include representatives of the following employers: Motorola, Hemmings Motor News, Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce, John Hancock Financial Services, Marriott International, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Army, American College Testing, GTE Corporation, CHASSELLE, Hewlett- Packard Corporation, and Southern California Edison.
These employers are committed to making the business world compatible with parents' efforts
to support their children's learning. As the Employer's Promise states, its a "win/win situation"
for families, communities, and our nation.
This year, with the special emphasis on the back-to-school effort, the Armed Services' participation in education is even more extensive:
The Air Force
notified its 184 installations and asked personnel to get involved in the back-to-school effort.
The Army
notified all bases worldwide and is conducting special back-to-school initiatives around the country.
The Marine Corps
notified its 191 Marine Corps Reserve Sites and sent them copies of back-
to-school materials such as the Partners' Activity Guide.
The Navy
got the word out to its 375 ships and 3400 Commands.
In the opening segment, viewers got a look at a school-community partnership in south-central Seattle called "Powerful Schools," which is benefiting students, teachers, parents, and the community at large. A primary objective of Powerful Schools is to expand and share technology resources. At Hawthorne Elementary, one of the partner schools, students have access to the wealth of information on the Internet, and the school stays open in the afternoons and evenings so that community members can also use computer labs.
Panelist Kent Keel, technology director for the Kent School District in Kent, Washington, described another example of thoughtful community planning for technology. His school district of over 24,000 students won public support for bond issues so that every classroom in 36 campuses will be connected to the Information Superhighway. The Kent district's strategic plan for technology includes "toolboxes" for teachers that help teachers integrate the vast resources of the Internet into their lesson plans.
"There's no magic in computers; there's no magic in wires," said Keel. "The magic is teachers working with the students to learn something."
A student from the Kent district, Jason Martin, performed an in-studio technology demonstration, showing how he used the World Wide Web on the Internet to do research for a term paper on Benjamin Franklin. Jason's ease with technology and the way that other students have mastered technology resources became a theme of the program. Caller Art Smith of Lacey Township, New Jersey, reported that his students were broadcasting the Town Meeting live on their cable access television station at Lacey High School. Caller Suzanna Beck, a multimedia technology instructor at Martin Luther King Middle School in San Bernardino, California, said that her students train their peers in the use of technology and then train teachers, including visitors from other campuses.
Deputy Secretary Kunin noted that "technology leapfrogs over the usual hierarchy we have in education where we think that the teacher is the authority and the student is always the learner." Panelist Pat Moriarty, coordinator of the Teacher Development Center in Everett, Washington agreed. "Having technology in the elementary classrooms levels the playing field between students and teachers. Teachers are forced to look at themselves as lifelong learners."
The way that the business community can support schools in getting quality educational equipment and software was another theme of the program. Rick Segal, Director of Educational Initiatives for Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington, described his company's plan to set up a computer network for the national PTA and all state PTA offices, including those overseas. Microsoft will partner with COMPAQ to provide all the computer equipment and wiring necessary for this plan. "The PTA is really the core of every community," Segal said. "Our hope is to empower those people with technology ... to help change the way people think about why technology is going into the schools and convince the community about what the return on investment is."
At the Town Meeting's close, Deputy Secretary Kunin announced a resource from the Education
Department to assist schools and communities with developing technology plans. It's called
"Making It Happen," and it contains practical advice for obtaining top quality software and
equipment, linking classrooms to the Information Superhighway, providing teachers with the
skills they need to use technology, and involving parents, businesses, and the entire community
in expanding and sharing technology resources. To order a copy of Making It
Happen, write to the GOALS 2000 Information Resource Center, U.S. Department of
Education, Room 2421, 600 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C., 20202.
The House and Senate will soon meet in a conference committee to draft a single proposal to send to the President. As this edition went to press, President Clinton announced his intention to veto any bill which severely limits effective federal support for communities working to improve academic achievement, create safer schools, and bring innovative technology into classrooms.
The chart below compares 1995 funding levels for major Education Department programs to the 1996 levels proposed by the President, the House, and the Senate.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________|___________________________1996________________________|
| | | | |
PROGRAM | FY 1995 | President's | U.S. House | Senate Approp's|
| | Recommendation | of Representatives | Committee |
| | | | |
--------|-----------|----------------|---------------------|----------------|
GOALS | | | | |
2000 | | | | |
grants | $371,870 | $750,500 | $0.00 | $310,000 |
to | | | | |
schools | | | | |
--------|-----------|----------------|---------------------|----------------|
Title I/| | | | |
Basic | $6,698,356| $7,000,000 | $5,555,000 | $6,019,398 |
Skills | | | | |
Help | | | | |
--------|-----------|----------------|---------------------|----------------|
Safe/ | | | | (1) |
Drug- | $466,000 | $500,000 | $200,000 | $200,000 |
Free | | | | |
--------|-----------|----------------|---------------------|----------------|
School | | | | |
To | $122,500 | $200,000 | $95,000 | $122,500 |
Work | | | | |
--------|-----------|----------------|---------------------|----------------|
Pell | | | | |
Grants | | (2) | (3) | (4) |
for | $6,146,845| $6,601,503 | $5,697,000 | $5,400,000 |
College | | | | |
Students| | | | |
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