Community Update

No. 64
February 1999
U.S. Department of Education

Table of Contents

• America Counts Can Help Students Master Challenging Mathematics
• February Town Meeting Will Highlight Ways to Develop Good Reading Skills at Home and School
• Vice President Announces New Efforts to Prepare Workers and Employers for 21st Century
• Department of Education and USA TODAY Join Forces to Create New Web Site
• Hispanic Education Conferences Highlight Importance of Family Involvement in Children's Education
• Calendar
• U.S. Department of Education Honors Citizens' Efforts to Improve Education
• Catch an E-rate Wave
• First Lady Launches the Mars Millennium Project
• Thousands of Students and Employers Participate in Groundhog Job Shadow Day
• National Conference to Highlight Before and After School Programs
• Donations of School Supplies Urgently Needed
• Credits

America Counts Can Help Students Master Challenging Mathematics
February 5, 1999

• Provide help, personal attention and additional learning time for students who need extra assistance in mastering the fundamentals of mathematics in elementary and middle school;

• Equip teachers to teach challenging mathematics by ensuring that they enter the profession with a solid understanding of mathematics and the best ways to teach it, and provide ongoing opportunities for teachers to upgrade their skills;

• Encourage a challenging and engaging curriculum for all students based on rigorous standards that meet national and international benchmarks of excellence;

• Ensure that local, state and federal resources are coordinated in support of high-quality and coherent mathematics programs that hold high expectations for all students;

• Build public understanding of the mathematics our students must master to ensure their and our nation's prosperity and growth; and

• Support high-quality research to improve our knowledge about mathematics teaching and learning.

Vice President Gore discussed with students, parents, teachers, tutors, university presidents, business leaders, and mathematics educators the national mobilization of mathematics tutors and the newly expanded Federal Work-Study Waiver portion of America Counts. These efforts, designed to help America's elementary through ninth grade students improve their achievement in mathematics, encourage adults with an affinity for mathematics--including health care professionals, business leaders, mathematicians, scientists, and college students--to provide assistance to students who could benefit from supplemental learning time.

The national mobilization of tutors will build upon the success of the America Reads Challenge initiative, in which over 1,000 colleges and universities have Federal Work-Study students tutoring elementary school children in reading. The success of the America Counts tutoring campaign, however, depends upon the active involvement and expertise of many people in the field.

In response to this challenge, the U.S. Department of Education will encourage colleges to establish tutoring programs that will provide sustained mathematical help to young people during and after school, on weekends, and in summer. The U.S. Department of Education, in collaboration with the National Science Foundation, will also provide information about exemplary tutoring and mentoring programs, and design and establish model programs for high-quality training.

For more information about America Counts, contact Linda Rosen at (202) 401-3389 or e-mail Linda.Rosen@ed.gov. You can also visit the America Counts Web site at http://www.ed.gov/americacounts/ or access a guide from the U.S. Department of Education about establishing a federal work-study program at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/pubs/WorkStudy/. Yes, You Can, a guide for establishing mentoring programs, is also available at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/YesYouCan/.

February Town Meeting Will Highlight Ways to Develop Good Reading Skills at Home and School

Live from Los Angeles, California, the February Satellite Town Meeting will highlight ways that schools and communities are making the teaching of reading a priority. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley will present a panel of guests who will discuss how parents can reinforce key skills at home, and how communities can support the learning of reading. Entitled "Teaching Reading: Success Stories from School and Home," the hour-long program will air on Tuesday, February 16 at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time and 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, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Committee for Economic Development, with support from The Bayer Foundation and The Procter & Gamble 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 coordinates are as follows:

C-Band: GE2, Orbital Location 85 degrees West; Transponder 24; Horizontal Polarity; Channel 24; Downlink Frequency 4180 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 MHZ (English).

Ku-Band: Galaxy 3, Orbital Location 95 Degrees West; Transponder 12; Horizontal Polarity; Channel 12; Downlink Frequency 11930 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 (English).

For additional information or to register your participation, call 1-800-USA-LEARN, visit the U.S. Department of Education's Web site at http://www.ed.gov/inits/stm/, or e-mail Satellite.Town.Meeting@ed.gov.

Vice President Announces New Efforts to Prepare Workers and Employers for 21st Century

"America's competitiveness and the prosperity of our people in a changing economy depend increasingly on high-skill, high-wage jobs," Vice President Gore said. "Realizing our potential will require investing in education and learning for all of our people throughout their lifetimes."

Vice President Gore announced several means with which to address ways to help American workers and employers. These include:

• An estimated $60 million plan to help train American workers for high-skill jobs in industries facing skill shortages;
• More worker scholarships;
• A new tax credit to encourage literacy programs at the workplace;
• A challenge to help every adult American finance postsecondary education and training throughout their lifetime and a new advisory committee of outside experts and leaders to develop options for meeting this challenge;
• Access to college aid for more working Americans and dislocated workers;
• A prestigious new award from the president and vice president for communities that effectively invest in raising skills of adults across the community;
• A new leadership group of top CEOs, college presidents, labor union leaders, cabinet members, and other public officials to help working Americans develop the skills they need for career success and economic security;
• New Internet services;
• A new Executive Order to help the federal government become a model user of technology for training; and
• A new administration report showing the payoff of investing in education and training.

Department of Education and USA TODAY Join Forces to Create New Web Site

"I want to thank USA TODAY for their commitment to excellence in education," U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley said. "Millions of people are benefiting from the information that is readily available through this new Web site. This is an important step in strengthening family involvement in education."

Thanks to USA TODAY Education and Copernicus Interactive, a provider of customized Internet content for schools, the site at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OIIA/pfie/ now contains interactive features and has greater exposure across the nation and throughout the education community. Visitors to the USA TODAY news Web page, which receives 21 million visits a month, can now link through USA TODAY's Education resources to the new PFIE Web site at http://education.usatoday.com/.

"Our partnership with PFIE significantly strengthens our goal to foster the school/home alliance by providing a gateway to vital education information and resources to help educators, parents and students," said Ricardo Valencia, USA TODAY director of education.

The new PFIE Web site features a "spotlight" article every week, focusing on various educational and family-school-community partnership issues, and allows an interactive database search of all the members of the PFIE. The site provides examples of successful educational programs, outlines the U.S. Department of Education's initiatives, lists publications, and contains numerous links to other relevant sites.

The PFIE was started in September 1994 by Secretary Riley in an effort to join together employers, educators, families, religious groups, and community organizations to improve schools and raise student achievement. Thousands of organizations are currently members of the Partnership, representing every state in the country. If you are interested in joining the PFIE, visit http://www.ed.gov/offices/OIIA/pfie/, or call 1-800-USA-LEARN. For information about USA TODAY's education programs, call 1-800-757-TEACH.

Visit us online at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OIIA/pfie/. The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education's new Web site features a database search engine of all the members of the Partnership, examples of successful educational programs, an outline of the U.S. Department of Education's initiatives and publications, and numerous links to other relevant sites. Thirty years of research shows that greater family involvement in children's learning is critical to achieving a high-quality education for every student. Join us in our effort to link employers, educators, families, religious groups, and community organizations together to improve schools and raise student achievement.

Hispanic Education Conferences Highlight Importance of Family Involvement in Children's Education

The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans sponsored the first conference in San Antonio, Texas, in October 1998 and will host the next conference in Los Angeles, California on March 5-6, 1999. Partnering in the Los Angeles event are the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), People United to Enrich the Neighborhood Through Education (PUENTE) Learning Center, and the UCLA Office of Academic Development.

These conferences reflect a shared commitment to improve educational opportunities for all children, and most particularly for Latinos. Participants are given the opportunity to address current educational issues, focus on powerful strategies to support parents whose own education ended before the completion of high school, and consider how schools, teachers, civic leaders, community-based organizations, business, and federal agencies can reach out to parents to more fully engage them in their children's education.

The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans is already working with community leaders in New York, Chicago, and Miami to stage similar conferences in 1999. For more information, call (202) 401-4521.

U.S. Department of Education Honors Citizens' Efforts to Improve Education

The competition was designed to honor parents, teachers, principals, members of the community or religious organizations and employers from around the country who have undertaken activities to help children learn and to improve schools. Award recipients were honored for their creative and innovative approaches to engaging students in science, technology, the arts or nature to inspire them to learn; involving parents and the community in establishing equitable and respectful learning environments for diverse student populations; mobilizing parents to better communicate with and get involved in schools; and making their message for better education heard by the larger community. Secretary Riley's ten regional representatives nominated individuals who have excelled in their communities and the winners were selected by a committee consisting of members of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education.

The 1998 John Stanford Education Heroes award was presented to Patty Arthur of Spokane, Washington, a parent volunteer who formed an organizing team with other parents, teachers and the principal at the Ridgeview School in an effort to improve student learning; Steve DeMasco of New Haven, Connecticut, founder of the Kids for Life Foundation which helps students develop self-respect and discipline; Eugene Eubanks of Kansas City, Missouri, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a widely recognized consultant in the area of education, equity, desegregation and urban problems; Kathleen Gaffney of Jersey City, New Jersey, president and co-founder of Artsgenesis, a non-profit arts education organization which creates arts programs for children, parents and educators; Jacqueline Greenwood of Indianapolis, Indiana, principal of Arlington High School and a supporter of parent and community involvement to promote positive role models in her school; Don Johnson of Springdale, Arkansas, principal of Elmdale Elementary School where he has implemented mentoring and tutoring programs to benefit his students; Veronica Joyner of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, national president and founder of Parents United for Better Schools (PUBS), where she works to empower parents to become involved in their local schools; Roy Kaplan of Tampa, Florida, executive director of the Tampa Bay chapter of the National Conference for Communities and Justice where he works to provide students with alternatives to racial, cultural and personal injustice; John McConnell of Grand Junction, Colorado, founder of the Sci-Tech Exploratorium at Wingate Elementary School where he assists students with mentoring and tutoring programs; and Alice Waters of Berkeley, California, founder of "The Edible Schoolyard" program at the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, a program that involves students directly in planting, harvesting and cooking their own school lunches. For more information, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

Catch an E-Rate Wave

• On November 23, 1998, the first wave of 3,060 letters was mailed, allocating $73,146,337;

• On December 8, 1998, the second wave of 3,368 commitment letters was sent, allocating $75,592,702;

• On December 23 1998, the third wave rolled out $25,240,419 to 1,112 applicants;

• On December 30, 1998, the fourth wave, the SLD committed $33,373,900 to 1,086 applicants;

• On January 15, 1999, the SLD issued part II of wave four. This special wave of E-rate funding commitment letters, allocating nearly $8 million, was issued to 1,300 library applicants from every state; and

• Wave five, which was sent on January 21, 1999, consists of more than 4,500 letters committing over $211 million dollars.

To date, the SLD has committed over $427 million to 13,000 applicants, and schools and libraries are eager to submit applications for Year 2 (July 1, 1999-June 30, 2000). The application window for E-rate funding in 1999 opened on December 1, 11998 and will close on March 19, 1999. For more information, visit http://www.sl.universalservice.org/ or call 1-888-203-8100.

First Lady Launches the Mars Millennium Project

"There is nothing that entices children and adults as much as the idea of space travel and colonization with respect to imagining the future," Mrs. Clinton said. "Starting next school year, students all over the country will be able to take off on their own journeys of imagination to Mars."

The Mars Millennium Project is an exciting youth initiative that challenges students across the nation to imagine and plan a community on the planet Mars for the year 2030. The launch included a video-taped address from the honorary chair, former U.S. Senator and astronaut, John Glenn, and was attended by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator Daniel Goldin, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Bill Ivey, Vice President for Education of the J. Paul Getty Trust Ted Mitchell, and former manager of JPL's Mars Exploration Program Donna Shirley.

"The Mars Millennium Project offers an exciting opportunity for our teachers and students to link a variety of learning disciplines and multi-step problem solving, and to harness students' creative impulses," Secretary Riley said.

An interdisciplinary effort, the Mars Millennium Project will engage kindergarten through high-school students in classrooms and youth groups throughout the United States. Working in teams and with educators, community leaders and professionals in many fields, hundreds of thousands of young people will weave the arts, sciences, and humanities into an exploration of their own communities. The result will be a plan for a new community on Mars -- one that is scientifically sound and offers a high quality of life--and one in which they would be proud to live.

The project will unfold in both formal and informal educational settings. Participation kits geared for grade levels K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, as well as community organizations, will be available in March 1999. Student will work on their designs during the 1999-2000 school year, with project concepts entered into a National Registry and finished works displayed in an online Virtual Gallery and at local and national exhibits in the spring and summer of 2000.

Guiding the Mars Millennium project are the U.S. Department of Education, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the J. Paul Getty Trust, in concert with the White House Millennium Council. In addition, more than 90 of our nation's most prestigious organizations, corporations and businesses have signed on in support of the project, many of whom are supplying resources and materials to promote the project and providing additional learning opportunities to project teams.

For more information on how you can become involved in this national initiative, visit the project Web site at http://www.mars2030.net/, or contact the project managers at (310) 274-8787, extension 150 or via e-mail at mars@pvcla.com.

Thousands of Students and Employers Participate in Groundhog Job Shadow Day

In Washington, D.C., over 2,000 "shadows" were seen in offices around town. Some of the participants included 60 legislators on Capitol Hill, dozens of aides at the White House, employees at 13 federal agencies and departments and hundreds of local businesses. The Department of Labor hosted 60 students from area middle and high schools and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater hosted over 700 students from Prince George's County, Maryland, at the U.S. Department of Transportation. "Shadows" were also seen with 25 governors and the entire cast of the "Today Show".

The U.S. Department of Education welcomed 75 students from several District of Columbia high schools and career academies. Students had the opportunity to spend time with Acting Deputy Secretary Mike Smith, Assistant Secretaries Trish McNeil, Norma Cantu, Kent McGuire, Mario Moreno, and Counselor to U.S. Secretary of Education Terry Peterson, as well as other senior staff.

This national initiative was sponsored by The National School-to-Work Office, Junior Achievement, America's Promise--The Alliance for Youth, and the American Society of Association Executives. For more information, visit http://www.jobshadow.org/.

National Conference to Highlight Before and After School Programs

Over twenty creative, hands-on workshop sessions will cover a broad range of topics designed to provide attendees with a clear understanding of the issues and the tools to establish quality before and after-school enrichment programs in their local communities. Conference speakers will include Adriana A. deKanter, deputy director of planning and evaluation services at the U.S. Department of Education, and liaison to the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation's support of the 21st Century Learning Centers; Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of Rheedlen Centers for Children and Youth; Anne Bouie, author, trainer, and facilitator with the Center for the Development of Schools and Communities; and Eddie Collins, Jr., a nationally-recognized speaker on the importance of quality after school time programming for youth at the University of North Carolina.

For conference registration information, call FOUNDATIONS, Inc. at 1-888-977-KIDS (5437) or visit the FOUNDATIONS Web site at: http://www.foundations-inc.org/.

Donations of School Supplies Urgently Needed

Honduran authorities report that about 150,000 primary school children in grades 1-6 have been affected by Hurricane Mitch. Supplies needed include: 250,000 desks; 300,000 copybooks and number two pencils; 150,000 ballpoint pens, rulers and bookbags; 112,500 boxes of crayons; 37,500 protractors and compasses; 12,000 Spanish dictionaries; 5,000 radios; 1,000 radio-cassette players; 10,000 blank cassettes; and all the "D" size batteries that can be donated.

In Nicaragua, about 60,000 primary school children were affected by Hurricane Mitch in about 500 schools. Supplies needed include: 500 first aid kits; 1,500 mobile chalkboards and chalk; 2,000 packages of white bond paper; 6,000 markers, rulers and nylon bags; 3,000 rolls of masking and scotch tape; 500 radios; and 7,500 black cassettes.

In addition to the schools, 54 municipal education offices that provide teacher support in the Honduras and Nicaragua were affected by the hurricane. Supplies needed include: typewriters; 540 packages of white bond paper; staplers; paper cutters; radios and cassettes; markers, pens and pencils; and assorted office supplies.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its coordination unit, International Resources Group (IRG), will make every effort to help with the transportation and distribution of donated school supplies. For more information, write to: IRG, 1211 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036, call (220) 289-0100 or e-mail mitch@irgltd.com.

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