Colorado and Iowa's comprehensive school improvement plans were approved last week, bringing to 18 the number of state plans that have been approved through a peer review process. (State plans of CO, DE, IA, KS, KY, MD, MA, MI, MN, NV, NM, ND, OH, OR, TX, UT, VT, and WV have been peer reviewed and approved.)The 1996 budget bill signed into law on April 26 includes $350 million for Goals 2000 and several amendments to the law. These amendments:
- authorize six additional "Ed-Flex" states, giving states unprecedented authority to waive federal rules and regulations;
- allow districts in states not participating in Goals 2000 as of October 20, 1995 to apply directly to the Secretary for Goals 2000 grants as long as the state education agency approves (states in this situation are NH, VA, AL, MT, and OK);
- eliminate the authorization of a National Education Standards and Improvement Council;
- eliminate provisions governing the composition of state and local planning panels;
- eliminate opportunity-to-learn standards or strategy requirements within the state plans;
- provide an alternative to Secretarial approval of state plans; and
- expressly state that Goals 2000 may not be construed to require a state, local district, or school to provide outcome based education or school-based health clinics.
Last week, Secretary Riley sent to Congress the first biennial progress report required under the GOALS 2000 law on how schools and states have used Goals 2000 funds and flexibility to accelerate progress toward their own standards-based education improvements. The 34-page report, "Goals 2000: Increasing Student Achievement Through State and Local Initiatives," will be available soon in our Online Library (http://www.ed.gov/G2K/ or gopher.ed.gov -> Department-Wide Initiatives -> Goals 2000). It is also available from 1-800-USA-LEARN.
A "resource library" of several hundred school-to-work publications and articles was added recently to the National School-to-Work Learning Center's Internet gateway (http://www.stw.ed.gov/). Complete articles are available, where possible; otherwise, summaries are provided. A keyword search makes finding information easy. Services of the National STW Learning Center are also described (http://www.stw.ed.gov/).
Regional meetings, publications, school and electronic networks, and more are being planned to support states and communities in their efforts to improve high schools, raise academic achievement, and build school-to- work systems that prepare all students for college and careers. The kickoff event is an invitational conference May 22-24 in Washington, D.C., where 10 high schools that have undertaken comprehensive reform will be showcased. The conference and other activities are being planned by the U.S. Department of Education in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, the National School-to-Work Office, the National Center for Research in Vocational Education, and more than 30 other organizations.
Last week, Secretary Riley announced 56 elementary and secondary schools in low-income areas that are showing marked success in improving student achievement with support from Title I (formerly known as Chapter I), the largest U.S. Department of Education program to help children master the basics and challenging subject matter. Many of these schools are using Title I and other resources schoolwide, to ensure that all their students have access to challenging academic instruction. The Secretary cited Gompers High School (San Diego), a once- troubled school where, last year, over half the graduating class earned at least a 3.0 grade point average, and more than 95 percent were headed to 2- and 4-year colleges. Gompers and the other schools were selected because they offer...Thirty-two states participated in this 12th year of the annual Title I National Recognition Program. This year, for the first time, state education departments ran their own competitions, overseeing their own state selection panels and conducting site visits. For a list of the 56 recognized schools (from 32 participating states and the Bureau of Indian Affairs), please see http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/04-1996/titlerec.html or gopher.ed.gov -> Bulletins, Announcements, and Press Releases.
- opportunities for all children to meet proficient and advanced levels of performance;
- a partnership among schools, parents and communities;
- continuous professional development of teachers' skills and knowledge;
- curriculum and instruction to enable students to meet high academic standards; and
- consistent (at least three years) improvement in student achievement.
Secretary Riley kicked off the summer reading and writing challenge -- READ*WRITE*NOW! -- at the Illinois state library in Springfield and other sites on April 26. The goal this year, in its second summer, is to help one million children (preschool through 6th grade) strengthen their reading and writing skills. It works like this. Children agree to read and write 30 minutes a day and to learn a new vocabulary word five days per week. Once or twice a week, they get together with their "learning partner" (a teenager, senior citizen, relative, neighbor, or friend) who provides 30 minutes of extra help. A kit for providing that help is now available (free). It includes a booklet of "Activities for Reading and Writing Fun," how to materials, a vocabulary log, bookmarks, certificates, and a coupon for a free personal pan Pizza Hut pizza (for children who complete the summer challenge). Kits are being distributed to 16,000 libraries (and to many Reading Is Fundamental sites) this month. These are CAMERA-READY kits, which may be used to make unlimited copies for distribution at school, work, or elsewhere. The kit is also available by calling 1-800-USA-LEARN (limit one per household, please). The booklet, "Activities for Reading and Writing Fun," will be available in our Online Library soon (http://www.ed.gov/Family/). Last year's booklet, which is nearly identical to this year's, is there now.READ*WRITE*NOW! is sponsored by the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education. Major partners include Pizza Hut, AMC Entertainment, Inc., American Library Association, B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, Books and Beyond, Center for the Book of the Library of Congress, Corporation for National Service, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., Hadassah, National Dairy Council, Reading Is Fundamental, and the U.S. Department of Education.
At a hearing before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its Joint Board of state and federal commissioners on April 12, Secretary Riley said:
"The Telecommunications Act of 1996 provides an opportunity to improve education over the long term, by expanding the concept of universal service to include schools and libraries, and through provisions that call for affordable services. The recommendations of the Joint Board will set in place policies that will affect affordability and access not just for this generation of children but for many years to come. The FCC and state regulators should, therefore, make sure that telecommunications services are available in the schools and libraries that are least able to afford them. This will mean discounts in some cases, and free services in others. I look forward to working with the Joint Board in the months ahead as it develops its recommendations for schools and libraries."The hearing was part of the FCC's efforts to gather public comment on the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which states that elementary and secondary schools, as well as libraries and health care providers, should have access to advanced telecommunications services. The Snowe-Rockefeller-Exon- Kerrey provision of the act takes this a step further, specifying that, upon request, individual telecommunication carriers must provide service to schools and libraries at "affordable" rates. The act, which the President signed into law on February 8, marks the first substantial change of U.S. telecommunications policy in more than 60 years. Under Section 706 of the act, the FCC must conduct regular inquiries to see that advanced telecommunications are in fact becoming accessible to all Americans and in particular for elementary and secondary classrooms. For additional information, including the full texts of the Secretary's oral and written statements, please see http://www.ed.gov/Technology/fcc.html
On April 24, the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth, and Families held its markup and reported favorably by voice vote (to the full Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities) on the bill H.R. 3268, the "IDEA Improvement Act of l996." Discussion of contentious issues was deferred to full Committee consideration of this bill, to accommodate time for further negotiation between the Majority and Minority Members. Provisions in the House bill that are particularly polarizing include those that would: limit attorneys fees awarded to parents with disabilities, make it easier for schools to remove from the classroom students with disabilities who commit specified types of misconduct, allow states to cease all educational services to students with disabilities who commit specified types of misconduct, rewrite the funding formula for the main program that assists states in providing a free and appropriate public education, give l0 local education agencies (LEAs) or groups of LEAs waivers to the IDEA, and allow states to waive personnel standards. Full Committee markup could come as early as May 9.
Despite proposals by some in Congress to cap Direct Loan volume, Congress ultimately took no action that would limit the growth of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. Under the fiscal year 1996 appropriation bill signed by the President on April 26, all schools have the option of participating in Direct Loans. During the 104th Congress, proposals to limit school participation, cut funding, and even eliminate the program were countered with steady opposition from students and schools participating in the program. In addition, many schools not participating in the Direct Loan program supported the President's position to maintain choice, because of the benefits competition has brought to all students receiving federal student loans.
With the Department of Education's FY 1996 budget finally resolved and signed into law, attention turns to next year's FY 1997 budget. On May 9, Secretary Riley testifies before the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Education's FY 1997 budget request. The Secretary's testimony concludes a series of House hearings which began in April with Department officials. (For statements of Assistant Secretaries who testified at that time, please see http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/04-1996/test-apr.html or gopher.ed.gov -> Announcements, Bulletins, and Press Releases -> Selected Speeches and Testimony.) Also, House and Senate budget committees are expected to meet soon to formulate an FY 1997 budget resolution as a framework for appropriations bills to follow this summer. Note: Readers interested in state-by- state allocations of funding in the FY 1996 appropriations bill should watch the Online Library for new tables in the next few weeks (http://www.ed.gov/news.html).
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