Community Update

No. 55, March 1998
U.S. Department of Education

• Education First: Building America's Future
• March Town Meeting Will Focus on Preparing Students for College Early
• High Standards Can Transform Teaching and Learning, Town Meeting Audience Learns
• Trust Insurance Company Emphasizes Employee Involvement in Education
• Announcements
• Calendar
• America Goes Back to School Planning Tip
• President Clinton Sends 1999 Education Budget to Congress

Education First: Building America's Future March 4, 1998

Editor's note: On February 17, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley delivered his fifth annual State of American Education address in Seattle, Washington. Below are excerpts from the speech "Education First: Building America's Future." The entire speech is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/980217.html.

My friends, if ever there was a time to rally around our nation's schools, it is now. We have so much to do. We have more children in our nation's classrooms than ever before and each year they become more crowded. Our children speak more than 100 languages, eager as they are to learn English. They start kindergarten with high hopes, but too many come unprepared.

Reading scores are not where we want them to be. And while we do a very good job at teaching math and science in the early years, we begin to drift in the middle years and fall behind the international standard of excellence.

Drug use is down slightly among teenagers but our vigilance must never end. And we cannot rest while everyday another 3,000 young people start smoking. Think about the consequences--1,000 of these young people will die as a result of tobacco related illnesses. Middle schools are at ground zero in the battle to protect our children's health....

As I visit schools around the country, I see a renewed interest in arts education and a growing concern about the negative impact of cutting art and music out of the curriculum. The creativity of the arts and the joy of music should be central to the education of every American child.

As we seek to address these many challenges, let's recognize that when we Americans get serious about something and focus on it, we usually succeed. That is why, today, over 60 percent of all graduating high school seniors now go directly to college and 25 percent of all college freshmen have taken advanced placement courses....

Every state in the union is in the process of adopting rigorous academic standards and challenging assessments. Washington State is a national leader in this effort. All 50 states are receiving Goals 2000 funds to raise standards in their own way. This commitment to high standards should not be underestimated.

Milestones in higher education also deserve our attention. Last year, President Clinton took the bold step of asking the American people to consider two very big ideas: one--that every American has the financial support needed to attend at least two years of college; two--that we find a way to give every citizen the incentive and opportunity to learn for a lifetime. Congress responded in strong bipartisan fashion. The result: the $1,500 Hope Scholarship and a 20 percent Lifelong Learning tax credit worth up to $1,000 this year and $2,000 in a few short years. These two big ideas are as significant to today's students as the G.I. Bill was to returning veterans....

The Congress has also supported the president's call to increase Pell Grants for low income students to $3,000, the largest increase in two decades. Pell Grants are the heart of student financial aid. We propose to increase Pell Grants again this year along with TRIO and work-study.

Helping children develop is the first step to starting our young people on the path to college....You can't do much of anything if you lack the ability to read. This is why I am so encouraged that 36 states are committed to making sure that every child in this nation can read well and independently by the end of third grade, if not earlier.

I am pleased to tell you that 915 colleges and universities are supporting the America Reads Challenge by encouraging their work-study students to become reading tutors and mentors. Twenty-eight colleges and universities here in Washington are now a part of this growing effort....

Helping children to be good readers goes to the very heart of President Clinton's new $12 billion class size reduction initiative that will add 100,000 well trained teachers to our nation's teaching corps. Common sense tells you that when children are in big classes they don't get the individual attention they need.

This is why we want to lower the average class size to 18 in grades on through three. Reducing class size improves discipline and raises student achievement. More individual attention by teachers early on can help all children and especially those with learning disabilities and other special needs....

The success of any effort to reduce class size ultimately depends on the quality of the teachers and giving teachers the support, time and tools to succeed....If you reduce class size it makes good sense to build more schools and modernize old ones. America's schools are simply wearing out at a time when we face many years of record breaking enrollment....This is why I urge Congress to support the president's call for a new $22 billion school construction initiative to help communities modernize schools and build new ones....

As we build new schools, let's also make sure that they are wired "smart." That is why the Federal Communications Commission established the E-rate, a new 2.25 billion fund available each year to make sure that every school--public, private and parochial--and every library will get the technology they need to teach for the future....

If we are going to be successful in preparing our young people to step into the future, we must have higher expectations for our children, a commitment to high standards and real accountability. This is why I support voluntary national tests for fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math....

Let's win this war on ignorance and make the education of all of our children this nation's first priority....This is America's first challenge and with your help, we will succeed.

March Town Meeting Will Focus on Preparing Students for College Early

Secretary Riley will discuss the importance of students preparing for college early by building a solid academic foundation and by garnering support from teachers, guidance counselors, and community, business and religious organizations. He will also focus on the best ways to help families pay for college, including scholarships, grants, tax cuts and savings plans. Entitled "Think College Early: Preparing Academically and Financially," the hour-long Satellite Town Meeting will air on Tuesday, March 17, 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 U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 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 Service, 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 1; Vertical Polarity; Channel 1; Downlink Frequency 3720 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 MHZ (English).

Ku-Band: Telstar 5, Orbital Location 97 degrees West; Transponder 24; Horizontal Polarity; Channel 24; Downlink Frequency 12124 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 MHZ (English).

To participate in the Satellite Town Meeting, ask your local Public Broadcasting Service (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 additional information or to register your participation, or visit http://www.ed.gov/inits/stm/.

High Standards Can Transform Teaching and Learning, Town Meeting Audience Learns

The Satellite Town Meeting focused on ways that families, educators and communities can work together to raise learning standards and help students master the basics and acquire advanced skills. The program also highlighted ways to define what students should know and be able to do, as well as ways to assess whether or not students have acquired the knowledge and skills to go on to the next grade.

The program featured Michele Anciaux, a parent involvement director for the Washington State Parent Teacher Association; Kerry Killinger, president, chairman and chief executive officer of Washington Mutual, Inc.; John Stanford, superintendent of Seattle Public Schools; and Carol Coe, the 1994 Washington State Teacher of the Year and a recipient of the Miliken Family Foundation National Educator Award. Panelists emphasized the following to help families, schools and communities face the challenge of setting high standards and raising student achievement:

• Clear, high standards can help students to master the basics in subjects such as reading, writing and mathematics.
• Challenging standards can help hold students and schools accountable for learning, and new kinds of assessments can help show which schools and students need extra help.
• Teachers and principals are key to helping students meet high standards, and need extra support and professional development to enable them to teach to the new standards.
• Everyone--parents, business leaders, community members--can benefit from clear, high standards, can help establish them, and put them into practice.

Trust Insurance Company Emphasizes Employee Involvement in Education

Editor's Note: Members of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education support efforts in their community that encourage learning at all levels. These activities are evidence of the success of the Partnership's vision: family involvement in education includes efforts by all adults who can mentor, tutor or volunteer to help children learn. The following is a summary of what one member of the Partnership's Employers for Learning is doing to encourage employee involvement in education.

The Trust Insurance Company, an employer with 340 associates in Taunton, Massachusetts, actively supports the mission of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education through its community and corporate programs. Trust associates are involved in the U.S. Department of Education's America Reads Challenge initiative, as well as other programs that are strategically designed to strengthen literacy development in young children and to encourage career development among high school students.

Trust associates are encouraged to get involved with the company's literacy improvement efforts through the Read Aloud Program at Trust Care, the company's on-site child care center for children ages six weeks to six years. Trust associates read with children at the center and help develop related activities that link thinking with reading.

During the summer, the Trust Insurance Company promotes the Trust Summer Reading Program for children of Trust associates. The Trust Insurance Company also partners with Barnum School, a local public preschool-through-kindergarten. Trust associates read with preschoolers on company time and present activities that link the stories with real life. All associates at Trust are actively encouraged to get involved in the Quality Time Program, an effort that promotes a variety of educational activities with children such as reading with a child, reviewing his or her homework, volunteering in a classroom, and assuming civic leadership in a program such as Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.

The Trust Insurance Company also participates in mentor programs. For example, in one mentoring program, Trust associates volunteer at a local high school eight times during the school year as a means of encouraging career development. This mentor program communicates to students the importance of getting a good education and developing good work habits for staying on the right track.

For more information about employee involvement in education at the Trust Insurance Company, write to Abby Smith, Trust Insurance Company, 425 John Quincy Adams Road, Taunton, Massachusetts 02780, or e-mail her at asmith@trustinsurance.com.

Announcements

• The U.S. Department of Education has just released A Compact for Learning: An Action Handbook for Family-School-Community Partnerships. The guidebook illustrates five steps of a process in which school partners develop, use, evaluate, and strengthen a compact for learning. For a free copy while supplies last, call 1-800-USA-LEARN or visit the Web site at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Compact/.

• The fifth annual Conference on Character Building, sponsored by The Communitarian Network, will take place at the Marvin Center, George Washington University in Washington D.C. on June 4-5. National leaders, researchers, and educators will address critical issues, including family involvement in education, character and service learning, character building in higher education, and more. For registration information, contact Nora Pollock, Conference Coordinator, at (202) 994-3008, by fax at (202) 994-1606, or by e-mail npollock@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu, or write to The Communitarian Network, 2130 H Street, NW, Suite 714J, Washington, D.C. 20052.

• The 1998 NAPE Symposium on Partnerships in Education, The Power of Partnerships: Linking Education to the 21st Century, will be held at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott in October 19-24. The Symposium will provide attendees with cutting-edge strategies and a broad range of professional development opportunities. For more information visit the NAPE homepage at NAPEhq.org.

• The January issue of Community Update highlighted a tutoring program organized and operated by more than 20 churches in Jackson, Tennessee. This program has two new dimensions. First, in cooperation with the public housing authority and the public school system, the tutoring program offers a Resident Initiative Program. Households with children may earn up to two free months of rent when parents attend parent-teacher conferences and are involved in school activities, and when children achieve good grades, improve their achievement and behavior, and attend tutoring classes regularly. Second, the Jackson, Tennessee, tutoring program has created a Web site with program information and examples of procedures and forms used to coordinate the program among churches and schools at http://www.public.usit.net/church. For more information, contact Michelle Doyle by e-mail at Michelle_Doyle@ed.gov.

• LD OnLine -- http://www.ldonline.org -- is a comprehensive Internet service offering information and ideas about learning disabilities for parents, teachers and children. Features of the site include the ABCs of learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder, a national calendar of events, audio clips from experts, artwork and essays by children with learning differences, research findings, bulletin boards, a resource guide, and more. LD OnLine is the official Web site of the Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities.

• This summer, the Bronx Zoo Education Department is offering workshops for teachers in grades K through 12. The purpose of the workshop is to help teachers increase content knowledge in the sciences, develop leadership and peer training skills, and have access to field scientists, zoo curators, vets and other career role models in the sciences. For more information, call Ann Robinson at (800) 937-5131.

America Goes Back to School Planning Tip: Use this time to take stock of who in your community can be a resource to help with your America Goes Back to School event in the fall! Pull together a local steering committee to start planning your event, and think about resources such as parent organizations, community groups, businesses, religious organizations, colleges and universities, the mayor and city council, and others!

President Clinton Sends 1999 Education Budget to Congress

Key priorities of the president's 1999 budget request for the U.S. Department of Education include:

• $175 million for schools to begin comprehensive reform, up $30 million, to be used to implement research-based schools designs, including those of the New American Schools, and others.

• $476 million for Goals 2000 State Grants, up $10 million, to expand support for state and local efforts in all 50 states and to set and implement standards of excellence to improve teaching and learning.

• $721 million for Educational Technology, up $136 million, to ensure that classrooms have up-to-date technology and teachers who are prepared to use it, in order to improve the quality of instruction in the core subjects.

• $260 million for the America Reads Challenge, including $50 million in new funds and a $210 million "advance" appropriated in 1998 that becomes available in 1999. The America Reads Challenge will enlist and train tutors in the Reading Corps to help children learn to read well and independently by the end of third-grade, and work with teachers, families and community organizations by providing reading assistance after school, on weekends and during the summer.

• $7.8 billion for Title I Grants to Local Education Agencies, an increase of $392 million, to improve school reading instruction for educationally disadvantaged students.

• $200 million for keeping schools open as 21st Century Community Learning Centers, an increase of $160 million, to support before- and after-school programs that will keep schools open as safe havens while providing extended learning activities to improve student achievement.

President Clinton is also proposing a significant investment for new programs in the following areas:

• Over $19 billion in interest-free bonds for school modernization and construction to help school districts pay for the construction of new academic facilities to reduce overcrowding, or for the renovation of all schools that need extensive repairs to make them safer and raise the quality of education.

• $1.1 billion for a Class Size Reduction Initiative, a new program that would recruit and train 100,000 new teachers over the next seven years in order to help reduce class size to an average of 18 in grades one through three.

• $200 million for Education Opportunity Zones, a new program that will make approximately 50 grants to poor urban and rural districts to improve accountability, turn around failing schools, improve the quality of teaching, and expand public school choice.

• $67 million for a new Teacher Recruitment and Preparation Program, which would recruit new teachers for the high-poverty urban and rural areas that have the most difficulty in attracting and retaining a high-quality teaching force.

President Clinton is also proposing initiatives to help students prepare and pay for college:

• $900 million to expand Work-Study, up $70 million, to reach President Clinton's goal of giving one million recipients the opportunity to work their way through college.

• $7.6 for the Pell Grant Program, an increase of $249 million, to raise the maximum Pell award from $3,000 to $3,100 and provide Pell Grants to over 3.9 million low-income students.

  In addition, a combination of budget and tax initiatives were signed into law last summer as part of the balanced budget agreement and will go into effect this year:

• $6.7 billion in HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax credits for more than 12 million postsecondary students and their families in 1999. An estimated 5.5 million students would receive HOPE tax credits of up to $1,500 for the first two years of college, while an additional 7.1 million students would benefit from up to $1,000 in Lifetime Learning credits for upgrading skills for the third and fourth years of college, graduate school or other training.

• College Education IRAs are available to families who may now deposit $500 per year into an Education IRA for each child under 18. Interest on these accounts is exempt from taxation if used for higher education.

Additional information pertaining to the U.S. Department of Education's 1999 budget is available by visiting http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/Budget99/.

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