Community Update
No. 51, October 1997
U.S. Department of Education
Table of Contents
- The America Reads Challenge...
- October Town Meeting Will Highlight How Schools and Communities Can Gain Access to the Internet
- The Learning Channel to Rebroadcast the Satellite Town Meeting
- National Parents' Day Coalition Hosts Second Annual Conference
- President's Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for Hispanic Americans Joins the Partnership
- Partnership for Family Involvement in Education
- Announcements
- Calendar
- September Town Meeting Highlights Community Partnerships to Keep Schools Open as Community Learning Centers
- Communities and States Sign Up for the Voluntary National Tests
- Volunteerism and Community Service Can Help Improve Education Across the Nation
- Court TV to Host Forum for Young Adolescents
- Credits
The America Reads Challenge:
A year-round effort to ensure that every child reads well and independently by the end of third grade
More than 52 million students have returned to America's classrooms this fall, an enrollment that beats all previous records, and one expected to continue rising before leveling off in the year 2007. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley announced this trend when he released A Back to School Special Report on the Baby Boom Echo in August, and challenged all Americans to help our nation's teachers and schools by finding ways to get involved in improving education across the nation.
The America Reads Challenge offers just such an opportunity. Announced by President Clinton earlier this year, the America Reads Challenge asks each of us to identify the role we can play--personally and professionally--to help ensure that every child reads well and independently by the end of third grade.
There are several ways you can help meet the America Reads Challenge. Hundreds of thousands of teens and adults across the nation have partnered with more than a million children on an individual basis by using the Read*Write*Now! program, a long-term effort to assist schools, communities and families in improving the reading skills of America's students. This past summer, the America Reads Challenge sponsored 14 Read*Write*Now! pilot sites that served more than 80,000 at-risk students. To receive free Read*Write*Now! materials, call 1-800-USA-LEARN, or download the materials from the Internet at http://www.ed.gov/PFIE/initiatv.html#rwn.
Schools and communities can tap into tutors through the Federal Work-Study Program, which allows college students participating in this financial aid program to tutor in local pre-school and elementary schools. More than 700 colleges and universities have signed on to the America Reads Challenge. For more information, call your local college's student financial aid office and community service office, or visit http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/.
An additional opportunity for involvement is through the President's Coalition for the America Reads Challenge. Coalition members include public and private organizations and businesses who commit to expanding existing literacy programs by encouraging their members and employees to get involved in local community literacy efforts. For more information about the America Reads Challenge and the President's Coalition, call 1-800-USA-LEARN or visit http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/.
October Town Meeting Will Highlight How Schools and Communities Can Gain Access to the Internet
The October Satellite Town Meeting will look at how schools and communities can gain access to the Internet and use it as a tool for learning. The discussion will focus on the recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling which will implement "universal service" for schools and libraries (E-rate), and make available up to $2.25 billion dollars in discounts in telecommunication services to schools and libraries in January 1998.U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and his guests will discuss how schools and libraries can take advantage and apply for the E-rate. Among the topics to be addressed are the kinds of training that will help schools and libraries use computer and online technologies to their fullest advantage, and the role that parents, communities and businesses can play in supporting technology as a learning tool. Entitled "Preparing Classrooms for the Future: Ensuring Access to the Internet," the hour-long Satellite Town Meeting will air on Tuesday, October 21, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.
The U.S. 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, The Procter & Gamble Fund, and The SC Johnson Wax Fund. Broadcast and cable partners include Discovery Communications, the Public Broadcasting System, and Channel One. The program will be closed-captioned and simulcast in Spanish.
The satellite coordinates are as follows:
C-Band: Galaxy 9, Orbital Location 123 degrees West; Transponder 2; Horizontal Polarity; Channel 2; Downlink Frequency 3740 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 MHZ (English).Ku-Band: Satellite SBS-6, Orbital Location 74 degrees West; Transponder 14; Vertical Polarity; Channel 14; Downlink Frequency 12043.5 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 MHZ (English).
To participate in the Satellite Town Meeting, ask your local Public Broadcasting System (PBS) member station or Chamber of Commerce if your group can use the facility as a downlink site, or call your local public, education, or government access channel. Call 1-800-USA-LEARN for further information or to register your participation.
The Learning Channel to Rebroadcast the Satellite Town Meeting
Viewers who can't watch the monthly live broadcast of the U.S. Department of Education's Satellite Town Meeting can see it or tape it when the program is rebroadcast on The Learning Channel (TLC), now available in more than 70 million cable homes. The Learning Channel is an educational network of Discovery Communications, one of the Satellite Town Meeting's distribution partners. TLC offers programming about history, science, and world culture, as well as commercial-free fare for pre-schoolers. To make the program accessible for taping and later use, TLC will rebroadcast the Satellite Town Meeting from 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Eastern time about five weeks after the program airs live. For more information about Discovery or The Learning Channel, call your local cable operator, or visit "Discovery Channel School" on the World Wide Web at http://school.discovery.com/. The Learning Channel rebroadcast schedule is as follows:
October 28, 1997:
"Back to School: Families and Communities Together for Learning"November 25, 1997:
"Preparing Classrooms for the Future: Ensuring Access to Internet"December 23, 1997:
"Supporting Quality Teachers: A Talented Teacher in Every Classroom"February 24, 1998:
"Serving Students with Disabilities: What Families, Schools and Communities Need to Know"March 24, 1998:
"Raising Student Achievement: Schools, Communities and Challenging Standards"April 21, 1998:
"Think College Early: Preparing Academically and Financially"May 26, 1998:
"Making Math Count: World-Class Achievement Starting with Algebra"June 23, 1998:
"Reading Partners: Teaming Up to Help All Children Read Well"July 21, 1998:
"Creating a Safe, Disciplined and Drug-Free School: Turning Research into Practice"
For more information about the Satellite Town Meetings or to register your participation, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.
PARTNERSHIP for
FAMILY INVOLVEMENT
in EDUCATION
National Parents' Day Coalition Hosts Second Annual Conference
The National Parents' Day Coalition (NPDC) will host its second annual parenting conference in Washington, D.C., on October 23-26, 1997. As a member of the U.S. Department of Education's Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, the NPDC seeks to emphasize the importance of parent and family involvement in children's learning. Entitled "Strengthening Families/Building Communities," the conference is part of the America Goes Back to School initiative, which highlights community partnerships as a way to improve education across the nation during the back to school months of August through October and throughout the school year.Conference presentations will include "Engaging Fathers in the Lives of Their Children," "Keeping the Peace -- A School and Community Collaborative Conflict Resolution Model," and "Recruiting Parents for Active Participation in their Child's Education." Other topics will include character education, early parent involvement for education, the role of the media, and how to build effective community partnerships. Through a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Education, the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, and the University of Maryland, a teleconference entitled "Meeting the Challenge to Create Effective School-Church-Family Partnerships for Learning" will be featured on the final day of the conference.
To register for the conference, call the NPDC at (202) 530-0849, or visit their Web site at http://www.parentsday.org. For information on the America Goes Back to School initiative, call 1-800-USA-LEARN or visit http://www.ed.gov/Family/agbts/.
President's Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for Hispanic Americans Joins the Partnership
The President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans has joined the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, which now includes more than 3,000 family, school, employer, community, and religious organizations. The Commission, which issued a report advocating local community partnerships, is comprised of education leaders from across the country. Recently, members of the Commission met with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley to express their commitment to the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education.
Partnership for Family Involvement in Education September 1994 -- August 1997
Over 3,000 community, family, school, educational, religious and employer organizations belong to the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education. For more information or to join the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.
Announcements
- The United States Air Force is launching a children's interactive education Web
page in early October. The Web page address is http://www.af.mil/aflinkjr.
- For their celebration of America Goes Back to School, the National Community
Education Association (NCEA), one of the founding members of the Partnership
for Family Involvement in Education, is working with PBS station WETA and
other organizations on a multimedia project called "Planet Neighborhood." The
series focuses on successful environmental efforts at the grassroots level and how
technology can help. Viewers are asked to call their local PBS station to request
rebroadcast of the series. For a set of free materials and information while
supplies last, contact WETA's Educational Outreach Office at (703) 998-2827,
fax to (703) 578-3378, or visit http://www.weta.org/planet.
- The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has joined the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education. Renowned for its tournament, the U.S. Open, the USTA also serves communities across the country through the USTA schools program. The program provides resources, assistance, and training to schools in an effort to introduce tennis and its code of conduct to students. The USTA, headquartered in White Plains, New York, has 500,000 members throughout all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information, call (914) 696-7000.
Calendar
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September Town Meeting Highlights Community Partnerships to Keep Schools Open as Community Learning Centers
The September Satellite Town Meeting, "Back to School: Families and Communities Together for Learning," aired on Tuesday September 16, before a live audience in Washington, D.C. Hosted by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Gerald Tirozzi, the teleconference was the first town meeting of the 1997-98 school year.The program highlighted the America Goes Back to School initiative, as well as President Clinton's proposed budget for Community Learning Centers to help schools and communities expand after-school learning opportunities. The program also focused on the America Reads Challenge, which emphasizes after-school tutoring for students who need help in reading.
The program featured John Hodge Jones, superintendent of the Murfreesboro City Schools in Tennessee; Josephine Hamb Robinson, director of the Chicago Commons Americorps Program in Illinois; Tina Gonzales, a parent leader at Intermediate School 218 in Washington Heights, New York; and Ron Mertz, president of Eco-Scrap and chair of the 4-H After-School Activity Program in Los Angeles, California.
Panelists encouraged parents, educators, and community and business leaders to:
- Spend time reading to and with a child so he or she can read well by the end of third grade.
- Coach a child in math so he or she is motivated and prepared to take algebra by the eighth grade.
- Support after-school programs for elementary and middle school students that extend learning and educate students to prevent substance abuse.
- Assist teachers by recruiting and organizing tutors for help after-school, weekends and during the summer.
- Help to get middle and high school students and their parents thinking about college early, and learn about the new education tax credits.
- Learn how your school, school district and state can sign up to take the 1999 national tests in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math to make sure students are mastering the basics.
A copy of the America Goes Back to School kit for families, as well as the U.S. Department of Education's publication Keeping Schools Open as Community Learning Centers, is available by calling 1-800-USA-LEARN or by visiting http://www.ed.gov/pubs/LearnCenters/.
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Communities and States Sign Up for the Voluntary National Tests
From Massachusetts to Kentucky to Alaska, seven states, as well as fifteen school districts and Department of Defense schools, are planning to participate in voluntary national tests in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math. Together, these states and districts represent almost 10 million children from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The proposed national voluntary tests, which would be overseen by the independent bipartisan National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), would be available in the spring of 1999. The tests would provide parents, teachers and principals with useful information about how their students are progressing in the core basics at pivotal times in their education no matter where they live in America."The national tests will provide us with a reliable measure of student achievement to build private sector and parent support to improve our schools," Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell said.
Jim Barksdale, chief executive officer and president of Netscape Communications, and L. John Doerr, partner in the firm of Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield and Byers agree. "President Clinton's national testing initiative offers a new opportunity to use widely accepted national benchmarks in reading and math against which states, school districts and parents can judge student performance," they said on behalf of 240 technology industry leaders who support high national education standards in reading and math.
"A voluntary national test would give teachers and parents the ability to measure their students and children against high national standards," said Gerald. D. Morris, director of legislation at the American of Federation of Teachers.
The voluntary national tests would be modeled on the widely accepted National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In addition, the eighth grade math tests would be linked to the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), so that achievement scores can be compared to international benchmarks as well as to national standards of excellence. While NAEP and TIMSS test only a random sample of students, the national tests would be, in a sense, a personalized version of the NAEP, and would produce scores for individual students so that parents, teachers and education leaders can provide extra help to students. For more information about the voluntary national tests, call 1-800-USA-LEARN or visit http://www.ed.gov/nationaltests/.
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Volunteerism and Community Service Can Help Improve Education Across the Nation
Americans across the country are finding time in their busy schedules to volunteer and help improve the quality of children's education. Whether tutoring or mentoring, volunteers realize the importance of spending even one or two hours a week to improve education in their communities. The following organizations have pledged their commitment to children's education through both the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education and the President's Summit on America's Future:
- The PTA at Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria, Virginia, increased
attendance at monthly PTA meetings by working with school administration and
the community. Together, they succeeded in enlisting 100 percent of the teachers
and improved student and parent involvement at the school. For more
information, call The National PTA at (312) 670-6782.
- The National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) is following up on its
promise at the President's Summit on America's Future by offering its first wave
of 45 million volunteer hours on October 13, the first Retired Educators' Day.
NRTA's goal is to mentor and teach 1.5 million children in 2,000 communities by
the year 2000. For more information, call Annette Norsman at (202) 434-2380.
- The Boy Scouts of America and each local council has committed each youth to
serve 12 hours of community service yearly for a total of 200 million community
service hours through the year 2000. Students and teachers in each local
community will find that their local scout council is a great resource for
volunteers, particularly through service learning. For more information, call John
Anthony of Learning for Life at (972) 580-2420.
- The Appleseed Ridge Girl Scout Council in Ohio held a Family Literacy Camp
where summer school children participated in a one-day reading, science, and
outdoor program. As part of the Read*Write*Now! year-round effort, the
children also completed follow-up letter writing activities at school with their
teachers. For more information, please contact your local Girl Scout council.
- ASPIRA Association, Inc. offers a year-round program for mathematics and
science in three cities -- New York, Philadelphia, and Miami -- to support the
development of Puerto Rican and Latino middle school students. For more
information or to become a mentor, call Al Starapoli at (202) 835-3600, extension
137.
- The General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, North American Division, is recruiting 3,000 new reading tutors over the next five years through their Kindergarten through university-level educational institutions. This effort is part of a plan to initiate 100 pilot tutoring projects throughout their network of community-based centers in ten cities in its first year. For more information, call Sandra Brown at (301) 680-6490.
For more information on the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education and the America Reads Challenge: Read*Write*Now! program, call 1-800-USA-LEARN or visit http://pfie.ed.gov/Family/.
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Court TV to Host Forum for Young Adolescents
On October 7 from 1-2 p.m. Eastern time, Court TV will produce "Portraits in Change: Celebrating the Month of the Young Adolescent," a special program providing a forum for young adolescents to express the issues that affect their lives. The program is cosponsorship with the National Middle School Association, and will be broadcast live and commercial free from the Newseum in Arlington, Virginia, and downlinked into middle schools all over the country via local cable operators or Primestar satellite."Portraits in Change" will be hosted by Court TV anchor Carol Randolph who will lead a live discussion with a studio audience of young adolescents from throughout the country. Additional discussion will originate via satellite tie-ins from the Flood Middle School in Denver, Colorado, a recipient of the Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Award, and the Eckstein Middle School in Seattle, Washington. Other show elements include pre-produced packages focusing on four key components to the successful development of young adolescents: the importance of healthy minds and bodies in establishing positive self-esteem; the crucial role that parents and guardians play in the lives of young adolescents; the importance of this age group in terms of the messages it will take to the next generation; and the importance thinking about higher education as an attainable goal.
"Portraits in Change" will kick off Court TV's initiative Choices and Consequences, aimed at spotlighting the issues teenagers face while making critical decisions during their transition into adulthood. For more information on Choices and Consequences, visit the Court TV website at: www.courttv.com/choices. For more information about "Portraits in Change," contact Scoot MacPherson at (212) 973-3251. For a copy of the Department of Education's publication Getting Ready for College Early: A Handbook for Parents of Students in the Middle and High School Years, call 1-800-USA-LEARN or visit http://www.ed.gov/pubs/GettingReadyCollegeEarly/
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