Yesterday Secretary Riley announced nearly $100 million for 31 states and D.C. to help the states and school districts turn around an estimated 2,700 low-performing schools. Activities will include developing school improvement plans, strengthening school leadership and teacher quality, using research-based curricula and instruction strategies, increasing parent involvement, and improving discipline. In 1997-98, states identified nearly 8,000 Title I schools that were not making ample progress toward helping students meet state academic standards as measured by state tests. http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/07-2000/0706.html
http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/07-2000/wh-0706.html

The Secretary noted that turning around low-performing schools is difficult, but that it can be done. He cited a Department report released last summer, "Hope for Urban Education," which profiles 9 schools that overcame significant hurdles to raise student achievement. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/urbanhope/

Last week Secretary Riley announced $1.3 billion in funding under the Class-Size Reduction Program to help communities hire 29,000 qualified teachers to reduce class size in grades K-3. On July 1 states received their first installment, $400 million, to hire teachers or retain those hired last year. A second installment of $900 million will be distributed in October. The program will benefit about 1.7 million children in 90,000 classrooms in more than 20,000 schools. http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/06-2000/0630.html

Last week President Clinton said he was "deeply disappointed" that the Senate had passed an appropriations bill for the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services that "fails to make crucial investments in our nation's future." He spoke about the need to increase funding for school construction, expand after-school programs, and make classrooms less crowded in order to help keep "education as our most important domestic priority." The President repeated his call for school construction funding later in the week in a speech to the American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees in Philadelphia. He talked also about the need to increase the number of teachers, provide quality training for all teachers, and decrease class sizes. http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/07-2000/wh-0706.html

Last week Secretary Riley praised a bipartisan effort to provide $24.8 billion for building and modernizing up to 6,000 schools nationwide. H.R. 4094, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), has more than 218 co-sponsors in the House, which represents a majority. "This legislation," the Secretary said, "supports $24.8 billion of tax-credit bonds that are crucial to helping local school districts repair crumbling schools and build new ones to accommodate growing student enrollments."

The bill would allow states and school districts to use a new tax-credit bond for school construction, renovation, and modernization. The federal government would pay the interest to the bondholders in the form of a tax credit, which would relieve the community of the expense. Currently, states and communities may issue school construction bonds to make the interest earned by the bondholder exempt from federal taxation. This allows them to sell the bonds at an interest rate lower than standard corporate bonds. However, communities must repay the principal and the tax-exempt interest over the life of the bond.

A recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that three-fourths of America's schools need repair, renovation, or modernization and at a cost of an estimated $127 billion. The press release, report, and other information on school construction are at
http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/06-2000/0629.html
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000032

Last week at the National Educational Computer Conference (NECC), Secretary Riley said that we, as a nation, have made great progress in connecting schools to the Internet; however, "less than half of the classrooms in the poorest schools have Internet access. We will need to work even harder to provide equal access for students in the poorest schools." He also...

• cited a study that found that 8th graders whose teachers used computers mostly for simulations and "applications" (such as spreadsheets), as opposed to drill and practice, performed better in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) than students whose teachers did not. The study also found that students having teachers who had participated in professional development in computers outperformed in math students whose teachers did not. http://www.ets.org/index.html
• noted that federal funding covers less than 10% of overall education costs but provides 25% of educational technology funding
• invited people to submit comments online on the National Educational Technology Plan.

The online comment area, the speech, descriptions of Department technology programs, and more can be found on the redesigned website of the Office of Educational Technology. http://www.ed.gov/Technology/

At the Early Childhood Summit in Washington, D.C., last month, Secretary Riley challenged educators to work with parents and policymakers to expand learning opportunities for 2- to 5-year-olds. The summit, "Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers," was based on a forthcoming National Research Council (NRC) report that makes 19 recommendations on pre-school education. Secretary Riley endorsed those recommendations, including the call for all teachers who work with preschool children to have a bachelor's degree with specialized knowledge in working with preschool children. He also said the Family and Medical Leave Act should be expanded to give parents additional time at home during the early months of infancy and that the nation should move to make voluntary pre-kindergarten universally available. The executive summary of the NRC report is at http://books.nap.edu/books/0309068363/html/1.html#pagetop The Secretary's speech is at http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/06-2000/000623a.html

Last month the President participated in "VH1 Save the Music" week to underscore the role of music and arts education in helping students achieve their full potential. For information about the event and efforts by the Administration to increase the visibility of the arts in education, please see http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/06-2000/wh-0616b.html

Spanish-speaking families, as well as schools and organizations serving them, may obtain a videotape featuring tips on parent involvement in education, ready-to-learn issues, reading and math, and preparing young people for college. "Vamos juntos a la escuela" ("Let's Go to School Together") was produced by the Department for use in parent meetings or in the home. The 15-minute tape can be used in presentations to groups of Spanish-speaking families by schools, colleges, community-based organizations, faith- based organizations, and others. Maria Elena Salinas, news anchor for the Univision Spanish-language television network, provides the narration. The tape is packaged in a kit with print materials in Spanish. The free video may be ordered online at http://www.ed.gov/about/ordering.jsp or by calling 1-877-4-ED-PUBS.

"Safe and Smart: Making the After-School Hours Work for Kids" is now updated and available online. The 87-page guide, produced by the Departments of Education and Justice, is written for superintendents, principals, parents, communities, employers, local governments, and faith communities who want to start or expand afterschool programs. It looks at recent research, resources, and information on promising efforts.

Among those efforts, teachers and staff involved in an afterschool program in Los Angeles provide 10,000 students in 62 schools -- many who are vulnerable to gangs, crime, and drugs -- with a safe haven to develop self-discipline, confidence, and interpersonal skills. The program includes homework assistance, learning activities and clubs involving computers, cooking, organized sports, field trips, dance, music, science, and art. Parent and volunteer participation is high. Evaluations show that children in the program get better grades, have greater enthusiasm for school, and show positive changes in behavior.

The guide is at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/SafeSmart/

Papers by a psychologist, psychiatrist, and sociologist who presented at the National Institutes of Justice's 1999 Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation are now online:

• "Community and Institutional Partnerships for School Violence Prevention"
• "Research-Based Prevention of School Violence and Youth Antisocial Behavior: A Developmental and Educational Perspective"
• "Controlling Violence: What Schools are Doing."

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/180972.pdf
http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/180972.txt

Last month at a Southern Regional Education Board meeting, Secretary Riley outlined 12 suggestions for improving education over the next few years. Among the suggestions:

1. have high expectation and standards for ALL students (not just the top third)
2. make preschool universally available
3. find ways to encourage more parent involvement
4. reduce class size to 18 students in the early grades and focus on reading
5. end the "reading wars" between phonics and whole language
6. make the arts part of every student's education
7. stop thinking we can get good teachers on the cheap. "We need to think about tearing up the 9-month contract, putting teachers on year-round contracts, and paying them accordingly," he said.
8. concentrate on leadership
9. reverse middle school drop-off. (The Third International Mathematics and Science Study shows that our 4th-graders are near the top in math and science, our 8th-graders are around the middle, and our 12th-graders are at the bottom.)
10. reinvent high school
11. provide quality afterschool and summer school programs
12. meet the challenge of overcrowding.

http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/06-2000/000621.html

"A Call to Commitment: Fathers' Involvement in Children's Learning," a publication from the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, explores the role fathers play in their children's education. It includes research findings, examples, tips, and resources.
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/fathers/

"Applying Federal Civil Rights Laws to Public Charter Schools: Questions and Answers," released in May, is designed to help charter school developers and operators create education programs that are consistent with federal nondiscrimination laws.
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/docs/charcomplian.html

25 new and updated "Fast Facts Tailored to Answer Education Research Questions" have been added to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) website (with links to tables and publications).
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/

ED Initiatives is made possible by many contributors, including John Emekli, Laura Emmett, Peter Kickbush, Melinda Kitchell Malico, Jerry Malitz, John McGrath, Bill Modzeleski, Heidi Ramirez, Carol Rasco, Laura Rassmussen, Judy Reardon, John See, Tracy Sisser, Kevin Sullivan, David Thomas, Melinda Ulloa , and others.

Have a comment or suggestion on ED Initiatives? Please send it to Kirk Winters in the Office of the Under Secretary at kirk.winters@ed.gov.