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

School-Linked Comprehensive Services for Children and Families - April 1995

AERA President's Remarks

Our first goal--that all children in America will start school ready to learn--goes to the heart of the national Goals 2000 initiative. It establishes the requisite conditions for achieving all of the other seven goals. Unless children come to school ready to learn, the second goal of increasing the high school graduation rate to 90 percent, will not be achieved. Nor will the third goal for American students to demonstrate competence in challenging subject matter. Certainly, we will not find that all students have learned to use their minds well and will be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our modern economy by 2000 if they do not come to school ready to learn. Another goal, to find U.S. students first in the world in science and mathematics achievement by 2000, will be impossible unless we use only the scores of our top ten percent. Having every adult American literate and possessing the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship will not be met unless those adults are healthy emotionally and physically. We must have healthy parents for them to be involved and to promote the social, emotional, and academic goals of their children. The elimination of drugs and violence from schools is a necessary condition for achieving all of the goals.

There can be little wonder why educational interventions, based upon the body of research on teaching and learning from the 1970s and 1980s, have had so little lasting effect. We have not been playing with all the pieces of the puzzle. We have not asked in a systematic way, "What is required for a child to come to school ready to learn?" so that the chances of success from the interventions can be optimized. There are intervening factors that prevent even the best teachers from effectively teaching many of our children. At present:

Nearly 13 million children live in poverty, more than 2 million more than a decade ago.
At least one of six children has no health care at all.
At least 100,000 children are homeless in America on any given night.
Every year there are more than a million runaway and homeless young people.
Each year, 500,000 young people drop out of school.
Overall, the percent of students graduating from high school from 1985 to 1990 decreased for whites, African Americans and Hispanics.
Dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested, and six times more likely to become unmarried parents.
Every year, approximately 1 million teenage girls become pregnant. The percent of all births to single teens increased 16 percent from 1986 to 1991.
The juvenile violent crime arrest rate increased three times from 1960 to 1988.
Every day 135,000 American students bring guns to school.
Drinking and driving remains the number one killer of adolescents.
Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among adolescents and has almost tripled since the 1960s.
Homicide is the leading cause of death among 15- to 19- year-old minority youth.
The number of reported child abuse cases increased 48 percent form 1986 to 1991.

Multiple perspectives are needed to solve these problems. In many parts of the country, anxious but enlightened communities are forming partnerships among health, welfare, juvenile justice, and education systems to pool insights and resources. To assist in meeting these needs, leadership and funding are coming from several foundations.

Several pilot projects, as shared in the Fall of 1994 conference entitled "School-Linked Comprehensive Services for Children and Families," are included as appendices in this publication, which shares its title with that of the conference.

Many partnerships among colleges of education, school districts, and the business community have been forming, and plans are being implemented to achieve the goals of America 2000. Unfortunately little systematic basic or applied research has accompanied these innovations. We need to know what elements of partnerships work in different contexts and what elements positively impact the lives of families and children. Further, we must know what research is needed to improve interprofessional programs and improve delivery systems.

Jane A. Stallings
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[Assistant Secretary's Remarks]

[Steering Committee]