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

Table of Contents Major FY 2000 Initiatives Initiatives in FY 2001 Budget 2 Million Children Now Enrolled in SCHIP State of American Education Address Secretary Talks About Teacher Quality Math and Science Commission Seeks Ideas Apply for Financial Aid Online: FAFSA on the Web High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools Self-Assessment Tool: Preparing Teachers to Use Technology Conference on Building Strategic Partnerships Town Meeting on Middle Schools Summer Institutes for Language Teaching Professionals New Online Credits

Major FY 2000 Initiatives Information is now available on major grant initiatives being administered by the Department this year (fiscal year 2000). They include... Programs continued from 1999: Class Size Reduction, Special Education Grants to States, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Reading Excellence, Safe and Drug Free Schools -- Middle School Coordinators, Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration, Charter Schools, Advanced Placement Initiative, Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants, Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology, Bilingual Professional Development, GEAR UP, Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships, and New American High Schools. Programs new in 2000: Small Schools, Elementary School Counseling and Demonstration Program, Safe and Drug Free Schools -- Alternative Strategies, and Adult Education/English Literacy Civics Education Grants. For details, please see: http://www.ed.gov/inits/FY2000/index.html

Initiatives Proposed in FY 2001 Budget This month the Administration announced initiatives that will be proposed in the President's budget for 2001, including... $24.8 billion in tax credit bonds over 2 years to modernize up to 6,000 schools and $1.3 billion for emergency renovation loans and grants for schools. $120 million in competitive grants for school districts to create smaller, safer and better high schools. a $100 million increase for the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative. a $30 billion college opportunity tax cut to make college more affordable for millions of families. nearly $1 billion for College Completion Challenge Grants, Pell Grants, and other efforts. more than $400 million in increases for GEAR UP, TRIO, Youth Opportunity Grants, Youthbuild, and Job Corps. more than $850 million to support community service. $30 million to help ensure that young children in pre-school and day care, particularly children living in poverty, are taught by well-trained professionals. a new $2.7 billion 5-year effort to accelerate enrollment of uninsured children in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. (See related story below.) For more information on these initiatives, please see: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/WhiteHouse.html

2 Million Children Now Enrolled in SCHIP The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report this month telling that 2 million children are now enrolled in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP was created in 1997 to cover children from working families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private health insurance. Despite recent progress, the report says, millions of eligible children remain uninsured because many parents are not aware they're eligible, because of lack of coordination with other programs (such as the school lunch program), and because of difficulties in the enrollment process. The Administration announced this month a new $2.7 billion 5-year effort that would help by... allowing school lunch programs to share application information with Medicaid staff for the sole purpose of outreach and enrollment (this is already allowed for SCHIP). It would also allow states to use enrollment in school lunch programs as the basis for presumptive eligibility for Medicaid and/or SCHIP. permitting child care referral centers and other sites help bring kids into SCHIP and Medicaid. requiring states to make their Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment equally simple. expanding Medicaid to include an option to cover children through age 20 and extend the same options to SCHIP. For more information, please see: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/01-2000/wh-0111.html http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/chip/

State of American Education Address Reminder: As reported in the previous issue, Secretary Riley will give his 7th annual State of American Education Address at Southern High School in Durham, NC. In the speech, on February 22 at noon (ET), he will discuss progress made in education since his first address in 1994 and will challenge schools and communities to renew their commitment to ensure that all students achieve their full potential in the 21st century. The speech will be broadcast live from the Southern High gym (via satellite and the web) to schools, communities, and cable access TV stations nationwide. For more information or satellite coordinates to host a free downlink site, please visit http://www.ed.gov/registerevent or call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

Secretary Talks About Teacher Quality On January 9, Secretary Riley spoke to teams of educators and community leaders from 47 states at the National Conference on Teacher Quality in Washington, D.C. The Secretary said that "the biggest challenge to K-12 education...[is] this: We've got a record number of children to teach, and a shortage of qualified teachers." He also said... "Unless we provide teachers with the right preparation, induction, mentoring, support, professional development, and pay, the movement to raise standards -- which so many of us fought for and which has finally become a reality -- may stumble. And that would be a tragedy. That is why we must push hard on teaching quality, and why I want to challenge you to prepare imaginative, effective action plans that will move us forward." The text of the Secretary's speech is at: http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/01-2000/20000109.html

Math and Science Commission Seeks Ideas You are invited to share your ideas on ways to ensure high quality teaching in mathematics and science at all grades in a discussion forum hosted by the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. At the website of the Commission, which is chaired by former Senator and astronaut John Glenn, you can watch (or read) presentations from Commission meetings, post comments about what you heard, and see what other visitors have to say. The Glenn Commission is preparing a report for Secretary Riley in the fall of 2000 that will include recommendations and strategies to help ensure that an adequate supply of highly skilled individuals enter and remain in the math and science teaching profession. The recommendations will also help make certain that throughout the span of a teacher's career, he or she has the opportunity to learn, generate, accumulate, and share knowledge about math and science content and teaching methods. http://www.ed.gov/americacounts/glenn/

Apply for Financial Aid Online: FAFSA on the Web If you're looking for financial aid to help you go to college, you are invited to apply for it online. More than one million students have already done so this year using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for 1999-2000. This form is used to determine students' eligibility for federal grants or loans, for most state student financial aid, and for aid from many colleges or universities. FAFSA on the Web, now in its 4th year, is easier than ever to use. Students can apply from anywhere -- home, their dorm room, or the library. The process takes anywhere from 20 minutes for students who are familiar with the FAFSA, to about an hour for first-time applicants. The application is customized for each student, asking only those questions that the applicant needs to answer. Online help and online editing help prevent most mistakes. Students short on time can even save everything onto a disk and complete and submit their application later. The website also allows students (regardless of how they filed) to check the status of their application, obtain their estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC) online, or request a duplicate Student Aid Report (SAR). All 2000-01 financial aid applicants will receive PINs in the mail. With these PINs they will be able to make corrections on the web, apply for aid for the following school year through a simplified renewal application process, and check the status of loans they have that are in the Department's databases. http://www.fafsa.ed.gov

High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools Harriet A. Baldwin Elementary (Boston, MA) is one of 9 high-performing, high-poverty urban elementary schools featured in "Hope for Urban Education." Five years ago, Baldwin was described as "chaotic and disorganized." There was little communication within the school, with other schools, or with the district office. "There was constant turmoil among both kids and adults," principal Suzanne Lee recalls. Today, Baldwin -- which serves mostly students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches (80%) and from families speaking a language other than English (78%) -- is described by teachers, parents, and visitors as a safe, welcoming, academically focused school. Math and reading scores have risen considerably. For example, in 1997, 75% of 4th-graders were at Level 1 and 2 in reading (on the Stanford 9), with only 25% at higher levels. In 1998, 44% were at Level 2, and 56% at Levels 3 and 4, with none at Level 1. At a second school featured in the report, Baskin Elementary (San Antonio, TX), scores on the statewide criterion-referenced test in 1994 reflected a huge gap in white and non-white student performance. For example, there was a 56 percentage point gap between the percentage of white and African American students reaching a passing standard on the reading tests. Similar gaps existed among other groups of students in reading, mathematics, and writing. There were other indicators of problems. One teacher recalled, "There were major discipline problems and students cursed at the teachers." Four years later, the school, where 92% of students receive free or reduced-price lunches, received an "exemplary" rating from the Texas Education Agency. This meant that at least 90% of all students -- at least 90% of African American students, at least 90% of Hispanic students, and at least 90% of low-income students -- passed the reading section, the writing section, and the math section of the test. Only 15% of all schools in Texas received the exemplary rating in 1998. How did Baldwin and Baskin achieve such results? Their stories are presented in this report, along with 10 recommendations that may be helpful to other schools seeking to change themselves into high-performing schools. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/urbanhope/

Self-Assessment Tool: Preparing Teachers to Use Technology The CEO Forum on Education and Technology has created a self-assessment tool designed to help schools, colleges, and departments of education assess their readiness in preparing tomorrow's teachers to use technology. This tool, the School Technology and Readiness (STaR) chart, is an online, multiple-choice questionnaire that provides instant feedback about the readiness of your teacher preparation program. http://www.ceoforum.org/

Conference on Building Strategic Partnerships The Conference Board's Business and Education Conference "Building Strategic Partnerships that Work -- From the Inside Out" will be held May 3-4 at the New York Hilton and Towers in New York City. The conference, cosponsored by the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education (PFIE), provides an opportunity for networking and exchanging ideas around business education partnerships that support employee and family involvement in education. Special registration rates are available for educators and nonprofit organizations. For registration information, please call (212) 339-0345 or visit: http://www.conference-board.org/search/dconference.cfm?conferenceid=2000811

Town Meeting on Middle Schools "Powerful Middle Schools: Influencing Teaching and Learning for Young Adolescents" is the focus of next month's Satellite Town Meeting. The program, hosted by Secretary Riley on February 15 from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. (ET), will look at on what works in effective middle schools, including interdisciplinary learning, advisory and counseling programs, varied and engaging instruction, and programs that expose students to a range of academic, vocational, and recreational activities in school and the community. The Secretary and his guests will also discuss how schools and families can help middle school students start getting ready for college. http://www.ed.gov/registerevent

Summer Institutes for Language Teaching Professionals This summer, 8 Language Resource Centers supported by the Department will offer a institutes on language teaching and learning. Topics include developing materials and resources for less commonly taught languages, using technology in second language teaching, developing second language assessment tools, business language for high school, teaching second language learning strategies, and strengthening language teacher preparation programs. Institutes will be held also for teachers of Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and Slavic and East European Languages. A complete list of summer institutes sponsored by the centers is at: http://nflrc.msu.edu/

New Online A listserv for discussing career and technical education at all levels is now offered by the National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education. To subscribe to CareerTech, send an e-mail to: listserve@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu In the body of the message, write: subscribe careertech yourfirstname yourlast name (Please leave the subject line blank and do not use a signature block.) If you have questions, please contact Judy Wagner at wagner.6@osu.edu