PHOENIX — Education leaders from seven school districts and one state department of education attended a two-day workshop hosted by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement designed to help them learn ways to implement public school choice under the transfer provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Under the law, students in schools that have not met state-set achievement goals are eligible to transfer to schools that will better suit their needs.

Workshop attendees learned how to put into practice some of the key success factors gleaned from school districts featured in the "Innovations in Education Guides": Creating Strong District School Choice Programs and Creating Successful Magnet Schools Programs (available online at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/index.html?src=oc). The workshop provided district leaders with the opportunity to learn about the strategies and promising practices other districts have used to successfully implement public school choice.

"There is no more powerful advocate for children than a parent armed with information, which is why we want to help school districts better communicate with them," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "This symposium will give district leaders the opportunity to learn from their peers who have been quietly putting in place the infrastructure to realize the spirit behind these provisions of the No Child Left Behind law."

All school districts were encouraged to apply to attend this workshop. Due to limited space, 50 participants were selected to attend. A list of participating school districts follows this release.

Under the transfer provisions of the law, some 50,000 students took advantage of the choice to move to other schools in their districts in the first year of eligibility under No Child Left Behind. The Department organized the workshop to partner with school districts and exchange information in an effort to help strengthen the choice opportunities for students across America.

The workshop was co-hosted by WestEd, one of the Department's regional educational laboratories, and Edvance, a research and development organization.

The main host, the Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement, was created in December 2002 to make strategic investments in and widely distribute information about promising education practices. The office also leads the Department's efforts to provide more information to parents about the options that the No Child Left Behind Act affords them for their children's education.

More information about the No Child Left Behind Act is available at www.ed.gov/nclb.

Districts/States in Attendance

Davis School District (Utah)
Dougherty County School System (Georgia)
Florida Department of Education
Harrisburg School District (Pennsylvania)
Jefferson Parish Public School System (Louisiana)
Kalamazoo Public Schools (Michigan)
Ogden City School District (Utah)
Victoria Independent School District (Texas)

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