The report showed that a majority of parents, teachers, and other citizens believe that most children will thrive under a system of higher standards. Seven in ten Americans (71 percent) said that youngsters would "pay more attention to their school work and study harder" with higher standards in place, and 72 percent said that youngsters would "actually learn more."
As a foundation for higher standards, the overwhelming majority of respondents (92 percent) said that teaching the basics is absolutely essential. The public recognizes that students need an education that extends beyond the basics to prepare them for the challenges of the 21st century and favors a "basics first," not a "basics only" approach.
Americans do have confidence in public schools in several important areas. Fifty-three percent say that public schools are more likely than private schools to provide an environment that teaches kids to deal with people from diverse backgrounds. Fifty-one percent believe that public schools provide a better education for children with special needs, such as the physically handicapped. Only 33 percent of Americans think that private school teachers are better educators than public school teachers.
On other high-priority issues for Americans, private schools earned a better rating than public schools. Sixty-one percent said private schools are more likely to provide order and discipline in the classroom, and 51 percent said private schools provide more safety and security. Fifty-three percent said private schools have higher academic standards for student learning than public schools.
The research for Assignment Incomplete was conducted in the summer of 1995, utilizing a telephone survey, a mail survey, and the results from a dozen focus groups across the country. The telephone survey polled 1,200 Americans, including 439 parents with children currently attending public schools and 237 public school teachers. The mail survey explored the views of 417 education administrators and 734 decision makers in business, government, the media, and other sectors.
Assignment Incomplete is part of a three-year project Public Agenda has undertaken with the Institute for Educational Leadership to sponsor in-depth discussions of education issues among parents, educators, business people, and other residents in communities across the country. The Public Agenda Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping citizens understand complex policy issues and to articulating the public's point of view to the nation's leaders. The Institute for Educational Leadership is also a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, which has sought in its 30-year history to encourage citizen leadership to improve educational, economic and civic opportunities for all.
To purchase the full Assignment Incomplete report, contact
Public Agenda, 6 East 39th Street, New York, N.Y., 10016. The cost
is $10.00 per copy plus $2.50 for shipping. Bulk orders are
available. To place an order by phone, call (212) 686-6610. 
Entitled "New Ideas for Professional Development: Giving Teachers the Skills and Knowledge Necessary for Today's Schools," the hour- long Town Meeting will air live on Tuesday, November 21, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time. The program is closed-captioned and is simulcast in Spanish.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Madeleine Kunin will host a conversation with award-winning teachers and their community partners from across the country who are involved in successful professional development efforts. Topics of discussion will include how high-quality professional development for teachers contributes to overall school reform; how local businesses can play a critical role in professional development programs; how opportunities for professional growth can be ongoing for all teachers; and how training educators is key to the success of bringing technology into the schools.
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 ....
National
____________________________________________________________________________
GOALS 2000: Supporting Community || Title I/Basic Skills Help |
Efforts to Improve Schools || |
________________________________________||__________________________________|
| DOLLARS |SCHOOLS SERVED|| DOLLARS | CHILDREN SERVED |
| | IN 1996-97 || | IN 1996-97 |
___________|_____________|______________||________________|_________________|
President | $750,000,000| 17,000 || $7,000,000,000| 7,100,000 |
___________|_____________|______________||________________|_________________|
Senate | | || | |
Approp's | $310,000,000| 7,400 || $6,019,398,000| 6,100,000 |
Committee | | || | |
___________|_____________|______________||________________|_________________|
U.S. House | (no funds) | 0 || $5,555,000,000| 5,600,000 |
___________|_____________|______________||________________|_________________|
Hand in Hand is a partnership between the Institute for Educational Leadership, the Mattel Foundation, and Teacher Barbie®, a Mattel product whose proceeds will help fund the campaign. A diverse coalition of national family and education organizations supports Hand in Hand, including the National Urban League, National Council of La Raza, National PTA, National Association of Elementary School Principals, and Council of Great City Schools.
Through a recent national study, Hand in Hand found that family participation in children's school activities is limited primarily due to a lack of time or knowledge about how to get involved. The campaign is working to encourage schools to be more welcoming to families and employers to be more flexible about allowing parents time off to participate at school. Working with organizations already active in family involvement and building on existing strategies, Hand in Hand will focus its initial efforts on eight communities: Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago; Dallas; Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; and Tampa, Fla. While many of the campaign's activities will take place in these cities, Hand in Hand urges every community to join in the cause.
"National Take Our Parents to School Week" (November 12-18) is one way Hand in Hand will focus public attention on the need for stronger collaboration between parents and teachers. The purpose of the event is to initiate exciting activities where parents and foster parents, family members and friends, and teachers and other school staff can establish closer working relationships or rejuvenate their partnerships in education. The timing of "National Take Our Parents to School Week" coincides with American Education Week.
The "National Take Our Parents to School Week" kickoff will take place November 13 at a New York City public school in a national news event to highlight what corporations, public policy leaders, and schools around the country are doing to support closer ties between parents and schools. Hand in Hand is planning events in its eight target cities and can provide assistance to groups that want to organize events in other communities.
For more information about "National Take Our Parents to School
Week" or Hand in Hand, write Hand in Hand at 1010
Wisconsin Avenue N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C., 20007. Useful
resources are also available from Hand in Hand, including
brochures with parent and teacher tips and a community involvement
poster. To request an order form for these materials, write to the
same address. (Note: There is a small shipping charge for some
publications.)
A new publication, entitled "The READ*WRITE*NOW! Partners Tutoring Program," is now available to help guide reading partners through the tutoring process. Developed by the U.S. Department of Education and Hadassah, the booklet suggests a step-by-step method for structuring a tutoring session, instructional techniques when reading aloud with children, and follow-up activities.
To order "The READ*WRITE*NOW! Partners Tutoring Program," free of
charge, call 1-800-USA-LEARN. School staff working with students
on community service projects involving reading are particularly
encouraged to request this publication.
The live programming for BIG HELP originated from the backlot of Universal Studios in Hollywood where approximately 6,000 children attended a block party. The Education Department's booth at the block party promoted the theme that children can be Big Helpers for education in two ways: making sure they are educated themselves and helping others to learn.
Children had the chance to begin their service projects at the Education Department booth. They created 1,000 bookmarks that were donated to Rolling Readers (a project of Reading Is Fundamental) and the Los Angeles Public Library. A total of 2,000 books were also collected during the day to be distributed by Rolling Readers to disadvantaged children. Visitors to the Education Department's booth received materials for how the newspaper can be used to enhance children's reading skills, READ*WRITE*NOW! kits, and calendars with reading and writing activities.
Other members and supporters of the national Family Involvement
Partnership for Learning taking part at the Big Help were:
American Paper Converters, Books and Beyond, Crayola, Los Angeles
Public Library, the Los Angeles Times, Reading Is Fundamental,
Rolling Readers, and the School Supply and Equipment Association.
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley was joined by special guest moderator Pete Williams of NBC News in a lively conversation that focused on how businesses can support high academic standards, real-world learning opportunities for students, and family-friendly employment policies. Deputy Secretary Kunin could not participate in the program because she was travelling with the First Lady in South America.
In a taped message, Bert Roberts, CEO of MCI Corporation and head of the National Alliance of Business, set the stage for the discussion by citing a lack of communication between businesses and schools in the past and urging businesses to let schools know what skills are needed in the workforce. Viewers then got a look at the successful partnership between the Chamber of Commerce and Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District in Charlotte, N.C., where cooperation between the business community and schools has led to dramatic gains in student achievement.
Panelist Rodney Lafon, superintendent of the St. Charles Parish School District in Luling, Louisiana, described how his district's innovative partnership with Union Carbide Corporation is also focused on increasing student learning and achievement. The district and Union Carbide have signed a ten-year agreement to implement comprehensive education reform, and Lafon considers the corporation's active participation in the plan to be vital. "The business people bring something very special to the table. They understand what students need to know and be able to do as they leave our schools. Businesses are very results-oriented. I think that has made us change our focus in public education."
Several panelists emphasized the valuable role that businesses can play in identifying for schools the skills that students will need in the workforce. "There are basic skills we need regardless of our particular industry -- reading, applied mathematics, locating information, and listening," said Connie Spellman, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce in Omaha, Nebraska. Spellman related how her community was mobilized to reform its schools when a business consultant in 1989 reported that Omaha's ability to attract new businesses and promote business expansion was being hampered by deficiencies in education.
Panelist Rogercarole Rogers, director for employment development at McDonald's Corporation in Oakbrook, Illinois, discussed her company's programs to help students make the transition from school to work. McDonald's is the nation's largest employer of youth; 50 percent of its employees are students. For more than 30 years, McDonald's has been working with schools to hone students' communication skills so they will be able to deliver superior customer service, and now the company offers management apprenticeship programs in several major cities nationwide.
In a live satellite uplink from Dallas, Texas, viewers learned of another innovative business-education partnership developed by J.C. Penney Corporation and the National Alliance of Business. (See article p. 2). J.C. Penney operates with site-based management for its retail stores across the country and is encouraging local managers to share their operating techniques with schools.
Secretary Riley announced a way for more businesses to get involved in education and join the national Family Involvement Partnership with Learning, which has nearly 160 national organizations as members that support the family's central role in learning. A new sign-on process to the Partnership called the "Employer's Promise" will be officially launched in mid-November. The Employer's Promise is a general statement of support for the kinds of actions businesses can take to make a real difference in children's education, including adopting family-friendly policies such as flextime that allow parents to attend school activities.
Panelist Randy MacDonald, senior vice president of Human Resources and Administration for GTE Corporation in Stamford, Connecticut, is a member of the national steering committee of employers that developed the Employer's Promise. He noted that businesses have a self-interest in working to improve education because the number one concern employees have when joining a company is the quality of the local schools. "It behooves business to get involved because we want to deploy our best people no matter where we need them."
Secretary Riley summarized the progress being made in education due to new working relationships between businesses and schools, "Change is taking place, and schools are listening and are making education much more relevant to the needs of the workplace."
At the Town Meeting's close, several Education Department resources
were introduced that support business-education partnerships.
"Employers, Families, and Education" outlines practical steps that
employers can take to become involved with schools, and "Building
Community Partnerships" is full of examples of successful school
and business collaborations. To order a copy of either booklet, or
of the Employer's Promise, write to the GOALS 2000 Information
Resource Center, U.S. Department of Education, Room 2421, 600
Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C., 20202.
In 1991 JCPenney and NAB launched the JCPenney High Performance Schools Project, now in its third phase. Phase one provided leadership institutes and competitive mini-grants to support school-based management in the Fort Worth Independent School District, located near JCPenney headquarters in North Dallas, Texas.
Phase two, which began in 1993, offered hands-on assistance to the two largest school districts in Bexar County, Texas -- the San Antonio and Northside Independent School Districts -- to decentralize. Local store managers participated in two-way job shadowing with school principals. JCPenney home office managers briefed district officials on ways to enhance strategic planning, budgeting, communications, and organizational planning.
In phase three, JCPenney and NAB developed a strategy to share "lessons learned" with a national audience in ways that will reinforce their own improvement efforts. The JCPenney Institute on School Improvement was launched this fall, utilizing JCPenney's in- store satellite network to reach communities across the country. The Institute had its first satellite teleconference September 29th, linking groups of parents, educators, business people, and other community members, who gathered at local JCPenney stores to learn and discuss how education is changing to prepare children for the jobs of the future.
Peggy Siegel, Director of the JCPenney Project at NAB, notes the
value of a third party in capturing lessons learned from such
partnerships and making them available to others so that the
partners can concentrate on their priority, improving education.
Adds Cami Alexander, JCPenney Corporate Contributions and Education
Manager, "Companies should look for what's really unique about how
they run their business and see how they can share it to meet
education needs."
To take advantage of the EDInfo service, simply
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