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

Achieving the Goals--Goal 5-First in the World in Math and Science Technology Resources - November 1996
On June 30, November 1996, the Department of Education released the national technology plan, Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge. Educators, students, parents, community leaders, academic experts and the high technology industry provided broad input to the development of the plan.

Although new technological innovations have transformed American life, from checkout counters to assembly lines, our schools are still a step behind. Indeed, the hard realities are that only 4 percent of schools have a computer for every five students (a ratio deemed adequate to allow regular use) and only 9 percent of classrooms are connected to the Internet.

Computers are the "new basic" of American education and the Internet is the blackboard of the future. If we help all of our children to become technologically literate, we will give a generation of young people the skills they need to enter this new knowledge- and information-driven economy.

The Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE) compiled the information in this volume to create an invaluable resource for education reformers. Many of the technology-in-education programs in the federal government are compiled in one place for the first time. These resources provide a wealth of information for schools and school districts that seek to expand their technology base.

We hope that this guide will help us meet the technology challenge and that, with the help of all Americans, our children will be prepared for the future.

Sincerely,

Linda Roberts
Director
Office of Educational Technology


-###-

[Title page] [Table of Contents] [Introduction]