A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

  FOR RELEASE            Contact:  David Thomas    February 8, 1997            (202) 401-1576 			    or Jim Bradshaw 				(202) 401-1576 

Marking the first anniversary of the Telecommunications Act, Vice President Gore today announced that Illinois is among the first three states to respond to President Clinton's call to prepare students for the technological challenges of the 21st century.

In last year's State of the Union address, President Clinton proposed a $2 billion, fiveyear Technology Literacy Challenge Fund to help schools use technology to improve teaching and learning. In his recent inaugural address, the president envisioned an America where "education will be every citizen's most prized possession."

"Our schools will have the highest standards in the world," President Clinton said. "The knowledge and power of the Information Age will be within reach not just of the few, but of every classroom, every library, every child."

Illinois will receive $9.1 million from the U.S. Department of Education to help ensure that its students will have the basic skills needed to be technologically literate in the 21st century. In its first year, the fund totals $200 million. President Clinton has requested an increase to $425 million for fiscal year 1998.

According to a just-issued report by the department's National Center for Education Statistics, the number of schools connected to the Internet has almost doubled since 1994, while over the same period, the number of classrooms with a direct link to the Internet has quadrupled.

"We're making real progress," Riley said. "Still, we clearly have along way to go before we can say that all students have the opportunities that new technologies can provide. I'm delighted that the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] is moving forward to assure that all schools will have affordable access to the Internet."

Overall, the administration's proposed FY98 budget requests $500 million for educational technology for the classroom -- about double the current appropriation -- to invest in hardware, education software and teacher training.

"This fund is an investment in our children and their future," Riley said. "Effective use of new technologies can broaden and strengthen the curriculum and provide every student with new tools to explore the world and to master challenging academic work."

The fund is the administration's major effort to address the president's four goals for educational technology:

• all teachers will be trained to help students learn through computers and the information superhighway;
• all students and teachers will have access to modern computers;
• all schools and classrooms will be linked to the information superhighway; and high quality software and online resources will be part of the curriculum in every school.

"Achieving these goals," Riley said, "will require new partnerships and hard work, as well as planning and commitment. Through this fund, we hope to help states and communities move quickly to bring all students the resources and learning opportunities that technology can provide."

Illinois will use the funds to address a number of critical areas in its school system, including increasing the number of computers for students and connecting more classrooms to the Internet.

The state's K through 12 Information Technology Plan calls for further efforts to bring technology into the classroom, provide staff training and development, and assess and evaluate these and related activities.

Illinois's plan was developed by a wide range of participants, including teachers, education officials and librarians, business and community leaders, and parents and students. It sets out specific funding goals for leadership, partnership and capacity building, new designs for teaching and learning, infrastructure, and allocations to districts to integrate technology into the curriculum. At least one third of Illinois's award will be distributed to districts with high percentages of children in poverty, including those that address special needs populations.

The Technology Literacy Challenge Fund was created to help leverage state, local, and private sector efforts to improve teaching and leaning with the effective use of technology. It offers states the opportunity to provide school districts -- especially those with high rates of poverty -- with funds that will help them meet their most important technology needs.

Illinois was joined by Mississippi and New Mexico as the first three states to receive grants. They responded with long range, statewide technology plans that included strategies for achieving the administration's four goals, financing, targeting assistance to school districts that are the most in need, and placing technology in the classroom.

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