Community Update

Special Edition for Schools

Building New Partnerships as America's Students Go Back to School
August 1, 1998

Editor's note: The back-to-school period of August through October is an excellent time to expand your partnerships with families, colleges, senior citizens, and business, religious, cultural and community groups to help you with your year-round efforts to improve education and your schools. The America Goes Back to School initiative is an effort to rally families, community and cultural institutions, senior citizens, and businesses to work with educators to improve the state of American education. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and the national co-chairs of the America Goes Back to School initiative: Tipper Gore, Lois Jean White, president of The National PTA, and Jane Pauley, anchor of Dateline NBC, invite your leadership to expand and strengthen school-parent-community partnerships in your area.

Dear Educator:

Overwhelming evidence shows that when parent involvement is high in children's education, students and schools perform better and fewer discipline problems are evident. Also, when the community is involved in their schools, the schools have more support and are rated higher. Family and community involvement is very important for better education, regardless of income, race or years of schooling.

Late August, September and October are excellent times to initiate and expand efforts to involve families, senior citizens, community and cultural institutions and businesses in improving our schools. Across America, educators, parents and community leaders are building new and solid partnerships to address pressing issues in education and in the community that affect our children and youth.

With the sponsorship of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, we will launch the fourth annual America Goes Back to School initiative from August through October. The goal is to let the students of America know that everyone in their community cares about and wants to improve their education. There are many critical areas that we need to address:

• modernizing and strengthening our public schools;
• building good citizens, civility, and good discipline;
• helping all children master the basics, including reading and math;
• helping students "think college early" and prepare for careers; and
• growing our own teachers and principals in a time of shortage.

This special edition of Community Update provides information about how school-parent-community partnerships are addressing vitally important areas of education. Your leadership in building these partnerships is essential, and we invite you to help rally parents, grandparents, community and cultural organizations, and businesses to get involved and stay involved this fall and throughout the year. Help us spread the message: "Come on, AMERICA...let's go back to school!"

If you are planning a back-to-school activity, write to America Goes Back to School, U.S. Department of Education, the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, 600 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20202-8173, fax to (202) 205-9133, or e-mail to agbts@ed.gov. For a free copy of the America Goes Back to School organizer's kit, a handout for back-to-school events, or for information about the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

Make a Difference: Help Rally America to Go Back to School

This year's back-to-school initiative challenges Americans to make a commitment to year-round involvement in children's learning in concrete ways such as:

• leading efforts to modernize schools and reduce class size;
• teaching children how to avoid violence, drugs, alcohol and tobacco;
• helping teachers and students obtain and use technology;
• mentoring a child in mathematics;
• starting or expanding an after-school or summer reading program; and
• helping children prepare for college early.

Thousands of families, schools, employers and community groups across the nation have participated in this back-to-school initiative. For example, last year, religious leaders and educators met for a day-long conference in Tampa Bay, Florida, to discuss issues such as reading, school discipline and family involvement in education. A follow-up summit is planned for September 1998, and will focus on mentoring and developing safe havens for children.

At Potomac Falls High School in Loudoun County, Virginia, parents, students, school board members, and community and church representatives gathered to discuss the importance of newly renovated schools. Loudoun County faces the challenge of building new classrooms to accommodate student enrollment expected to nearly double by 2004.

The YMCA of Greater New York, in partnership with the New York City Board of Education, expanded its efforts to bring extended school services to thousands of public school children each day. They have turned 200 of the city's public schools into "Virtual Ys" after school to improve academic performance, especially in reading.

Hundreds of communities around America are getting ready for another successful school year. Won't you join them by becoming part of the America Goes Back to School effort?

The 1998 America Goes Back to School Steering Committee

Joann Alter, Working In the Schools
Alex Bromir, Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Alan Brown, Milwaukee Public Schools
Leonel Castillo, Office of the Mayor of Houston, Texas
Arlene Chasek, The Center for Family Involvement in Schools
Ann Coles, Higher Education Information Center
Kassie Canter, Corporate Communications, NBC
Robert Condon, Rolling Readers
Judsen Culbreth, MacDonald Communications
Carole Curtis, HADASSAH
Jewell Dessance, Congress of National Black Churches, Inc.
Pamela Eakes, Mothers Against Violence in America
I. Ben Ebong, Greater Omaha Community Action, Inc.
Terry Ehrich, Hemmings Motor News
Ivelisse Estrada, Univision Communications, Inc.
Rear Admiral Marsha Johnson Evans, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
Barb Friedmann, Coalition for Positive Family Relationships
Charles Gardner, City of Greenville, South Carolina
Jo Granberry, Albany/Dougherty Community Partnership for Education
Tish Machtolf, Central Kitsap School District
Dewey McClain, Atlanta Recreation Department
Arnold Mitchem, National Council of Educational Opportunity Assoc.
Carole D. Moyer, Columbus Public Schools
Nataki Osborne, National Society of Black Engineers
Vaughn M. Ramseur, Roosevelt Middle School, New Britain, Connecticut
John Richards, Turner Learning
Jack Sawka, Telephone Pioneers of America
Patricia L. Salberg Schaffer, South Valley Middle School
Rose Shambourger, McMichael School
Mary Ann Smith, National Writing Project
Peggy Sparks, Birmingham City Schools
Larry Thompson, Flint, Michigan Cultural Center Corporation
Lynne Waihee, Read to Me International Foundation
Janice Williams, YMCA of Metropolitan Washington

As America Goes Back to School, House Committee Eliminates Key Education Investments

The committee did not provide funds for any of the new programs in President Clinton's FY 1999 education budget request, such as initiatives to make schools safer, help young people learn to read, to upgrade teacher skills, to raise standards and achievement in high-poverty urban and rural schools, and to provide mentors to help put one million disadvantaged students on the road to college. In addition, the committee failed to fully fund quality after-school programs for an additional 425,000 students or to help make students computer literate. Earlier in the year, both the Senate and House passed budget resolutions that would deny $22 billion in bonding authority over two years (at a cost of $3.3 billion over five years) to build, repair and modernize schools, and that would deny $12 billion over seven years to reduce class size. It is not too late for Congress to reconsider its education budget for FY 1999 because their final decisions will be made by the end of September or early October.

Listed below is President Clinton's request for his FY 1999 priority education programs versus the corresponding figures from the House Appropriations Committee. For more information on the U.S. Department of Education's 1999 budget request, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

Program	President's Request	House Committee	Funds Denied
America Reads Challenge	$260 million	0	-$260 million
After-school 21st Century Community Learning Centers	$200 million	$60 million	-$140 million
Extra Help in the Basics (Title I local Grants)	$7.767 billion	$7.375 billion	-$392 million
Technology Teacher Training	$75 million	0	-$75 million
Technology Literacy Challenge	$475 million	$425 million	-$50 million
Safe and Drug-free Schools Coordinators	$50 million	0	-$50 million
Educational Opportunity Zones	$200 million	0	-$200 million
Raising Standards in Goals 2000 Reform	$501 million	$246million	-$255 million
Upgrade Teacher Skills -- Eisenhower Professional Development	$335 million	$285 million	-$50 million
School to Work	$125 million	$75 million	-$50 million
Math and Science Research Initiative to Improve Achievement	$50 million	0	-$50 million
High Hopes for College	$140 million	0	-$140 million
Work-Study	$900 million	$850 million	-$50 million
Teacher Recruitment and Training	$67 million	$2.2 million	-$64.8 million
Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships	$30 million	$0	-$30 million
Cuts in other priority discretionary education programs			-$150 million
Total cuts in the President's priority discretionary programs: $2 billion

America Goes Back to School Highlights Five Key Areas in Education

Modernizing and strengthening our public schools. All students must learn to high academic standards, and our schools must be safe, up-to-date environments that are conducive to learning. With a record 52.2 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools during the 1997-98 academic year, and with the expectation that the record will be broken each year for the next ten years, it is crucial that we take an active role in continuously building and modernizing schools to accommodate the growing number of children. While these are local and state issues, they are also national issues. For this reason, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have proposed major investments to reduce class size ($12 billion over seven years) and to modernize and construct schools ($22 billion in interest-free school bonds). To gain more information about this proposal, you can host a downlink site for School Modernization Day on September 8 (see page 6). Starting in the late fall, you can also participate in forums and activities hosted by Vice President Gore and Secretary Riley on designing schools and classrooms for the 21st century.

Students must be prepared for the workplace of the 21st century, which means that all students must be familiar with computers and other technological tools. Ninety percent of students say it is important for them to know how to use computers and up-to-date technology to get ahead in the future, and schools must be modernized accordingly.

School officials can plan forums to analyze the need to build new schools and to repair and modernize local school building to make them centers of the community, more personalized, and geared to high standards. School officials can also host conferences on modernizing education, or start a school technology drive in the community. The Education Rate, or "E-Rate," was created as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to help rural, urban and suburban schools and libraries in America have affordable access to modern telecommunications and information services. All K-12 schools and public libraries qualify for discounts ranging from 20-90 percent, but this discount in under attack by some telephone companies and by some members of Congress. For more information, call the Schools and Libraries Corporation Client Service hotline at 1-888-203-8100.

Building good citizens, civility, and good discipline. People want safe, violent-free and drug-free schools. To build good citizens, civility, and good discipline, we must have high expectations and high standards for all students, and we must help direct students toward meaningful activities outside of school.

Four in ten teenagers say that they see people their own age using drugs or alcohol almost every day. Although teen drug use is leveling off for the first time since 1991, it is still far too high. We must give young people the opportunities to say "YES" to learning and "YES" to living safe and drug-free.

We can help our children engage in positive experiences by encouraging them to read, to play a musical instrument, to share a hobby, or to perform community service. In a national survey, approximately half of teenagers said they would be very comfortable volunteering at a hospital, working with homeless children, or tutoring kids at school.

School officials can make a difference throughout their community by starting a parent patrol at school or in the community; by hosting a community learning day and volunteer summit for students, families, and the community; by developing a report card on school crime and violence; and by focusing on learning in the community's after-school programs.

You can also expand learning opportunities and safety by starting an after-school, extended learning program in your school to provide your students with positive activities for their after-school hours. Many students, as well as parents, can benefit from schools being open after regular hours and during the summer as safe havens for learning: studies have shown that 90 percent of parents want school-based extended learning programs. For this reason, the U.S. Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Centers program granted $40 million in 1998, and is requesting $200 million from Congress in 1999 to help create local, community-based, after-school programs. The U.S. Department of Education has also published Keeping Schools Open as Community Learning Centers and Safe and Smart: Making the After-School Hours Work for Kids, which are available by calling 1-877-4ED-PUBS and online at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/LearnCenters/ and http://www.ed.gov/pubs/SafeandSmart/

Helping all children master the basics, including reading and math. It is imperative that all children master the basics, including reading, math, and science, in order to advance into higher levels of academic studies and to prepare for college. Reading well and independently by the end of 3rd grade is fundamental to children's future scholastic success. But 40 percent of 4th graders in America do not read at the basic level on challenging reading assessments. Taking algebra in the 8th grade is the key to opening the doors to more advanced mathematics in high school and college, yet only one in four 8th-graders currently studies algebra. We are all responsible for improving this performance and for ensuring that all children master the basics by the appropriate grade level.

School officials can host read-ins at schools, and invite parents, community members, and college students to bring their favorite children's books to read to a class. Schools can join the America Reads Challenge, President Clinton's call to action to help every child learn to read well and independently by the end of 3rd grade, by launching or publicizing a reading tutoring program with community volunteers and federal work-study college students. For more information, visit http://www.ed.gov/americareads

School officials can also invite parents to a series of math preview / review nights, which can give parents the confidence and knowledge to help their children with more advanced math. In addition, your school can link up with a local arts organization or museum that will partner with your school to help promote reading and math, as well as art and music. For more ideas on strengthening math programs, visit http://www.ed.gov/americacounts/

For a copy of the publication New Skills for New Schools: Preparing Teachers in Family Involvement to help your schools be more equipped to work with parents, call 1-877-4ED-PUBS or visit http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NewSkills/

Helping students "think college early" and prepare for careers. In America today, many communities are experiencing a shortage of workers for jobs in technology. More and more of these technology jobs require at least some postsecondary education. We can give all students the opportunity to go to college by helping them take the right courses, beginning with algebra in the 8th grade, and continuing with a full sequence of college preparatory courses in high school, including physics, chemistry, and advanced placement courses.

In 1995, 83 percent of high school graduates from high-income families went directly on to college, compared with 34 percent from low-income families. President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and Secretary Riley have worked hard to help students and families to pay the costs of postsecondary education. But all of us can do more.

For example, you can build a school-college-community partnership to improve student achievement. The University of California at Berkeley has established the Berkeley Pledge, which links college students and faculty with elementary, middle, and high schools with high numbers of minority and low-income students. The university provides both one-on-one and group learning activities for students, and training and support for teachers in areas such as reading and math.

School officials can also host a "Think College Early" day for middle and high school students by inviting area college representatives to talk with the students. The new "Think College Early" Web site at http://www.ed.gov/thinkcollege/early/ has helpful information for middle school students, as well as for parents, teachers, counselors, and the community.

Starting mentoring, job shadowing, and internship programs is another way to contribute to the well-being and future success of students in your community. On February 2, 1998, 125,000 students across the country shadowed computer programmers, doctors, political leaders, and workers from hundreds of other professions in order to experience the workplace firsthand on National Groundhog Job Shadow Day. For more information, visit http://www.jobshadow.org, or call the National School-to-Work Office Learning Center at 1-800-251-7236.

Growing our own teachers and principals in a time of shortage. Two million teachers will be needed in the next decade to serve the growing enrollment of students and to fill a record number of vacancies as the first baby boomers retire. To begin to accommodate the shortage in your community, you can start a teacher cadet club that encourages middle and high school students to consider the teaching profession. You can also organize a tutoring program in which older students teach younger students. This will benefit not only the younger students academically, but the older students as well: The teaching experience helps them to gain confidence in their own knowledge and abilities, and perhaps to consider the teaching profession for themselves.

School leaders can help ensure that new teachers stay in the profession by providing them with mentors for support and guidance. Community, cultural, business and parent organizations can help build support for teachers and principals to upgrade their skills and keep current. You can also bolster the energy and expertise of current teachers by ensuring their access to a well organized series of professional development experiences and classes. Today, principals must be instructional leaders, moving beyond their role as administrators, and setting high expectations and high standards. Would-be principals and superintendents, as well as teachers, need to be recruited, encouraged, prepared, and supported.

The publication From College to First-year Teaching: How the United States Compares to Several Other Countries is available by calling 1-877-4ED-PUBS or by visiting http://www.ed.gov/pubs/APEC/ More information about the U.S. Department of Education publications or initiatives can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.ed.gov or by calling 1-800-USA-LEARN.

President Clinton to Host National School Modernization Day

"With the number of school-age children at a record high and growing, schools across the country already are at or beyond capacity," President Clinton said. "One-third of our schools need to be modernized. Nearly half don't have the wiring to support basic computer equipment. The federal government helps to build roads and bridges and other infrastructure projects because they are in the national interest. But none of that will matter if we do not see that our national interest in an adequate education infrastructure is also preserved."

All Americans concerned about education are urged to join President Clinton at local events around the country. Members of Congress, local officials, parents and educators, and concerned business and community leaders will come together to discuss the challenges they face in their own schools; how parents, communities, and state and local governments can get involved; and how the Clinton administration's education agenda can help. President Clinton will be releasing the third annual Baby Boom Echo report, with new figures for total school enrollment on a state-by-state basis, as well a projections for future enrollment growth. Each local event will have the opportunity to link by satellite or other method to an event with President Clinton.

Anyone interested in organizing or participating in these events will receive:

• suggestions on how to arrange a town meeting;
• ways to facilitate discussion on community involvement in school modernization;
• materials describing the Clinton administration's education proposals; and
• procedures for linking to other events across the country.

For more information about National School Modernization Day events, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

Lessons Learned About Planning America Goes Back to School Events

• Contact potential sponsors and partners, such as parent leaders, media groups, area businesses, community and cultural organizations. Think of new potential allies.
• Contact schools, parents, senior citizens, key community organizations and area businesses, colleges, local officials, and other interested parties to set partnership priorities.
• Create a publicity plan and community outreach strategy to engage the broader community in addressing the education priorities of the partnership.
• Submit a proclamation request to the mayor's office or other local or state official. Seek a resolution from the school board, city council, or other governing body.
• Compile a media list and other sources for communication. Consider new outlets.
• Plan announcements and events, and press conferences to highlight your efforts and ways that families, employers, community and cultural organizations, grandparents and colleges can get involved.
• Select and confirm event sites and invite dignitaries and key parent, education and community leaders to special events. Make sure you consider accessibility issues for participants with disabilities.
• Decide how to evaluate the success of the effort and plan for evaluation. Design surveys, and record the effort.
• Let the U.S. Department of Education know about your partnership and events so they can be considered as showcase sites.

1998 America Goes Back to School Activities

• The Central Kitsap School District will hold a Back to School Fair in Silverdale, Washington. The event will provide parents, students, community members, and schools the opportunity to learn strategies for developing strong family-school-community partnerships, and to gain an awareness of the Central Kitsap School District programs for schools and students. Last year, 5,500 people participated in the fair.

• Project PACE (Parents and Children in Education) in Brooklyn, New York, will hold a kick-off breakfast at the John J. Pershing Intermediate School on October 21 to celebrate the opening of the school's Satellite Learning Center which will provide access to state of the art technology.

• The Georgia Partnership for Education will sponsor its sixth annual Bus Trip Across Georgia. From September 28 to October 2, leaders from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and local and national business, government and education will visit public schools in their state to witness successful programs positively impacting student achievement.

• America Links Up: An Internet Teach-In will be launched on September 15 in Baltimore, Maryland, for families, teachers, librarians, the online industry, and other concerned participants to increase public awareness of safe online behavior and encourage the active participation in children's online experiences.

• Last year, Hemmings Motor News of Bennington, Vermont, an active member of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, worked with local school districts to hold events on the first day of school. In partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, the Better Bennington Corporation and the local newspaper, employers were encouraged to give employees time off to go back to school with their children and participate in the school events. The event will be repeated and expanded again this year. For more information, visit http://www.firstday.org

School leaders can also generate and link up with business and community projects to support better educational opportunities:

• The Los Alamos National Laboratory will begin a series of classes in September where employees can learn about helping children learn, connect with educators and schools, and improve parenting skills.

• America Dreams Through the Decades, a project created through the Library of Congress, will kick-off October 12 via the Internet. This project challenges students to examine the American dream throughout the decades of America's past; capture their own community's dream and enter it on a digital "Portrait of America;" then share their personal dream on the "Wall of Dreams" via the World Wide Web. This project will culminate in a "Celebration of America" in classrooms across the nation.

• Working Mother magazine, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education, will hold its annual CEO Congress on September 17. One hundred CEOs are expected to attend this afternoon seminar focusing on corporate involvement in education. The September summit will be followed by a November conference for human resource managers.

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