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

I. Program Profile

Purpose: To improve the educational opportunities for and the performance of elementary and secondary school students and teachers; and to encourage local education agencies to increase the involvement of families in the improvement of the educational achievement of their children.

Funding History

II. Program Information and Analysis

Population Targeting

Services

Examples of the new projects funded for 1993 include:

• The School District of Philadelphia project supports a school-based Teen Parent Family Center to help teen parents and their children by combining Head Start and early childhood practices with the curriculum and principles of Missouri's Parents as Teachers Program. The project's aim is to raise teen and child academic achievement, keep teens in school, enroll children in early childhood programs, and improve parenting skills. Sixty participating teens and their children are receiving monthly home visits by trained social workers, as well as parenting education, health care referrals, child care, career education, and job search assistance.

• Project PACT (Parents and Children Together for Learning) in Brooklyn, New York works to improve readiness skills of at-risk 3- and 4-year olds. The children to be served reside in Community School District 18 and are either economically disadvantaged, limited English proficient or learning disabled. The project trains educators and parents to tap into children's individual strengths to foster their learning. PACT brings together families, schools and the Children's Television Workshop Sesame Street Preschool Education Program to develop materials that parents can use with their children to reinforce educational concepts that are taught during Sesame Street.

Under the FY 1993 Schools and Teachers Program-- School-Level Program, 26 grants received continuation funding, and two new grants were awarded. By statute, 25 percent of the FIRST appropriation must be awarded to school-level projects. Grant awards are by statute limited to a range of $5,000 to $125,000. When continuation costs fell just short of the 25 percent required funding level, two unsolicited applications from Dade County, Florida were funded. Funds went to local schools in the Hurricane Andrew disaster area for projects dealing with school readiness, high school completion, and improving achievement.

Among these continuation projects are the following:

• A 2-year project to increase opportunities for at-risk students in the "world of work." A key element is the creation of a Center for Student Business Services, operated by students for students and consisting of a limited-use branch bank, a campus store, a consignment shop, a yogurt concession, a Ticketron booth, and other small 77 businesses.

• A 3-year project to provide a college preparation and mentoring program for bilingual students who exhibit an interest in teaching as a career. It establishes a support system by pairing the identified bilingual high school students with 5th-year bilingual secondary teacher-credential candidates who tutor and mentor the students from their sophomore through senior years.

Under the FY 1993 Schools and Teachers Program, 11 continuation projects were funded. Projects conduct activities to refocus priorities and to reallocate existing human and financial resources to serve children. Among the continuation projects were:

• A 3-year project in Detroit that asserts that a parent is not only part of the educational team affecting a child, but that a parent is the child's first and most important teacher. The project focuses not only on the direct education of children, but also on the skill development of parents so that learning effectiveness is maximized. The result is that the education process at the school is looked on as not just one teacher working with 30 students, but rather 30 to 60 parents, the teacher, and the children working together.

• A 3-year project in the District of Columbia that is a collaborative effort of education, community service, and mental health professionals which aspires to benefit students with below-average academic performance and to lead to increased access for all students to a high-quality education. The project works with teachers, students, parents, and community members of six schools in which the student immigrant population is close to 10,000, a 72 percent increase in the last 5 years.

Management Improvement Strategies

III. Sources of Information

1. Program files.
2. Abstracts of FY 1991, FY 1992, and FY 1993 funded projects.

IV. Planned Studies

V. Contacts for Further Information

Program Operations:

Bryan Gray, (202) 219-1496

Program Studies:

Robert Glenn, (202) 401-1958

[Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program]

[Secretary's Fund for Innovation in Education]