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

       FOR RELEASE                                          Contact: David Thomas     August 6, 1996                                                (202) 401-3026

Star School Grants to Boost Adult Learning

President Clinton said the grants complement his technology literacy challenge, which calls for students of all ages to be given the skills and education to participate in the information explosion. "These grants represent the wave of the future by enabling lifelong learning via satellite from sites all over the country," Clinton said. "This increases the learning opportunities for students of all ages to benefit from advanced technology and access to the information superhighway."

"We're trying to build the technology highway right up to the front door of every school in America," Riley said. "These grants open doors for adults who want to continue their education or return and get their diploma or GED."

The Star Schools Program is administered by the department's Office of Educational Research and Improvement and will provide three grants in fiscal year 1996 totaling $8.9 million to advance adult literacy, secondary school completion and competency in core subjects.

Star Schools supports the use of technology to encourage improved instruction in various subject areas to underserved populations through the use of telecommunications networks. Star Schools projects including funding for the production and transmission of courses and curriculum modules sent via satellite, and other telecommunications systems, to elementary and secondary schools unable to provide local instructors, or to participants in innovative educational activities.

This competition is focused on adult literacy, school completion and continuing education. The awarded will use a variety of technologies, including CD ROM, satellite, and computer networks to deliver instructional programming.

The Star Schools Program is authorized by part B of Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT STAR SCHOOLS PROGRAM FISCAL YEAR 1996 AWARDS

     University of Nebraska Lincoln  Independent Study High   School CLASS Project   Monty McMahon (402) 472-4341          Amount: $2,988,155   Service area: National

The CLASS project will provide individual students with access to interactive, flexible course materials that include data, graphics, and video material and that incorporate electronic interactivity between student and student, student and teachers and students and external resources. The project will provide wider access to educational opportunities than conventional classroom and teaching situations. The project proposes to develop a highly interactive curriculum for electronic delivery, and create an electronic on line, highly interactive and individualized accredited high school (or continuing education) program. It will deliver instruction through an Internet based delivery system and through satellite systems located at secondary schools.

     Educational Service District 101  Pacific Adult                            Literacy Project   Steve Witter (509) 456-7685    Amount: $2,897,625

Service area: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Oregon, Washington, Pacific Region (American Samoa, Guam, and the Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands)

The Pacific Star Schools Partnership is a multi state consortium that proposes to develop three interactive broadcast courses: GED by satellite, Self paced GED (a CD ROM project), and Career Two, an interactive course geared to displaced adult workers who need retraining. Closed captioning of programs, descriptive video, teacher in service training and other system enhancements geared toward high school completion, adult literacy, workforce readiness and school to work transition, are also proposed. All programs are designed for nationwide dissemination and/or replication. Learning sites will be at middle and secondary schools.

     Public Broadcasting Service      LiteracyLink: Literacy                                      Linkages Through On Line                                      Access to Educational                                      Resources   Jinny Goldstein (703)739-5140         Amount: $2,995,100   Service area: All fifty states

LiteracyLink will create a pre GED/Workplace Basic Skills video service that responds to the need for pre GED course work, and new video and on-line materials (GED Skills 2000) that will reflect the new emphases of the revised GED exam. Also through their on line use, both new series will be available for conventional broadcast by public television stations. The project will establish a technology based resource center that will include training in technology issues, technical assistance, as well as professional development video conferences. LiteracyLink will deliver content in easy to use electronic formats, with icon driven menus augmented by audio instructions. Four major partners will guide the work of LiteracyLink: PBS, the National Center on Adult Literacy of the University of Pennsylvania, Kentucky Educational Television, and the Kentucky Department of Education. Many of LiteracyLink's activities will be implemented through collaboration with the GED Testing Service and software providers. In addition, the project will rely upon the local literacy programs of 25 "innovation sites" across the country , including schools libraries, colleges, public television stations, businesses, and community based organizations.

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