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

   FOR RELEASE:  1 p.m. EDT     Contact: Kathryn Kahler, David Frank    September 7, 1994                                  (202) 401-3026

RILEY CALLS FOR GREATER FAMILY INVOLVEMENT TO INCREASE LEARNING; ANNOUNCES NATIONWIDE PARTNERSHIP

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 -- U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley today urged families to become more involved in their children's learning and announced the formation of a nationwide partnership to achieve that goal.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Riley said the U.S. Education Department would join with the 45-member National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE) and other organizations to place family involvement in learning high on the American agenda.

"The American family is the rock on which a solid education can and must be built," Riley said. "I have seen examples all over this nation where two-parent families, single parents, stepparents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles are providing strong family support for their children to learn."

Riley noted that one of the eight national education goals, enacted earlier this year as part of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, calls on schools to "promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement."

He said the partnership will advance that goal by:

bringing together organizations and individuals working in this field;
encouraging schools, businesses and communities to establish a supportive environment for family involvement;
relationship between effective school practices and family involvement in learning;
identifying and publicizing outstanding examples of family involvement around the nation;
providing useful information to parents; and,
setting an example by encouraging federal employees to participate in their children's learning.

Riley released a research report documenting the importance of family involvement in learning. It "tells us, in no uncertain terms, that the essential building block for learning is how the American family uses its strength and power to support and encourage young people to meet the high expectations now being demanded of them in the classroom," Riley said.

The report, "Strong Families, Strong Schools," represents "a call to arms against ignorance and against low expectations," Riley said. It includes a summary of concrete examples to inspire parents to use the power and potential they have to truly shape their children's education.

The report points to 30 years of research showing that "greater family involvement in children's learning is a critical link to achieving a high-quality education and a safe, disciplined learning environment for every student." Citing research findings that parental participation improves students' learning "whether the child is in preschool or the upper grades, whether the family is rich or poor, whether the parents finished high school," the report concludes that family involvement must be "a special focus of any school improvement effort."

The report notes that "three factors over which parents exercise authority -- student absenteeism, variety of reading materials in the home, and excessive television watching -- explain nearly 90 percent of the difference in performance between high- and low-achieving states."

A significant theme of the document is a review of existing public support for greater family involvement in learning:

40 percent of parents believe they are not devoting enough time to their children's education;
teachers believe strengthening parents' roles in their children's learning must be the top issue in education policy;
nearly three-quarters of students aged 10 to 13 would like to talk to their parents more about schoolwork; and,
89 percent of company executives find the lack of parental involvement the biggest obstacle to school reform.

In his remarks, Riley said he had found "a desire on the part of many groups across the political spectrum to coalesce around this vital issue that is so important to the well-being of this nation." Riley noted that he and his staff have met with 125 different parent, religious, business, education, civic and community-based organizations in developing the family involvement partnership for learning.

Pointing to the need for each of these groups to establish a supportive environment for family involvement in learning, he called on schools to make parents feel welcome and businesses to take steps that enable families to give attention to their children.

"The mismatch in how major American institutions -- from schools to businesses -- carve out time in the day-to-day life of the American family is to my mind a serious impediment to how our young people are growing up," Riley said.

"The best business leaders recognize that the early investment families make on behalf of their children leads to the promise of a skilled and educated workforce in the future," Riley said. "This is why the business leadership of America has been in the forefront of improving education for many years now."

Riley said he would promote seven good practices for families, including:

taking an inventory of how the family is using its time in order to find extra time so the family can learn together;
committing to high standards and setting high expectations to encourage children to reach their full potential;
limiting television viewing on a school night to no more than two hours;
reading together;
making sure children take academically challenging courses and scheduling daily time to make sure that homework is done;
making sure their child goes to school every day;
setting a good example and talking directly to teenagers and children in middle school about drugs, alcohol, and the values they want their children to have.

Riley said the family involvement partnership for learning is "the right way to go for America."

Copies of "Strong Families, Strong Schools" are available by calling 1-800-USA-LEARN.