ED Initiatives...

January 9, 1997

A biweekly look at progress on the Secretary's priorities

GOALS 2000

Schools in Claremont, New Hampshire, are using a Goals 2000 grant to create "technology sites" in each school library. These sites will be open to students before & after school (and during the summer) and to parents in the evenings. Also, the school superintendent is sending a letter to every major employer in the county requesting at least one hour every two months of paid time for parents to visit & volunteer in their children's classrooms. Participating employers will be acknowledged in the local newspaper, and parents will receive training in how to help as volunteers. Parents will also be able to call a new "parent center" & hear about homework assignments & the themes of what their children are studying that week.

NEW AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS

Preparing students for both college & careers is the topic of this month's Satellite Town Meeting. "New American High Schools: Preparing Youth for College and Careers" will air on Tuesday, January 21, from 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Secretary Riley will host the program, which was taped at Fenway Middle College High School (Boston, MA) and will include clips of 9 other high schools showcased at the New American High Schools conference last May. For satellite coordinates or other information, please see: http://www.ed.gov/MailingLists/EDInfo/0208.html or e-mail or call us (Satellite.Town.Meeting@ed.gov or 1-800-USA-LEARN). Information on the New American High Schools Initiative is available at: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/.

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT

Company policies that support family & employee involvement in education are the focus of The Conference Board's 1997 Business & Education Conference on May 15-16 at the Swissotel in Boston. Case studies of companies' internal policies & external programs (that support family involvement in education) -- and "brainstorming sessions" on such policies & programs -- will be offered. Also, The Conference Board will announce its 1996 "Best in Class" awards recognizing companies that have strengthened primary & secondary education, and a special award will be presented to recognize leadership in the nationwide "Partnership for Family Involvement in Education." Organizations that will be highlighted for their business- education partnerships include: John Hancock Financial Services, Southern California Edison, Hewlett-Packard Company, United Airlines, Hemmings Motor News, IBM, Pizza Hut Inc., Mattel Corporation, Family Education Network, ACT Inc., Work/Family Directions, and the U.S. Department of Education.

Special registration rates have been set for educators, representatives of nonprofits, and team registration. For further information or to register, please contact The Conference Board's Customer Service Department via e-mail (orders@conference-board.org), phone (212-339-0345), or fax (212-980-7014).

AMERICA READS CHALLENGE

Last month the President announced that Carol Rasco, his current Assistant for Domestic Policy, will serve as senior policy advisor to Secretary Riley & director of the America Reads Challenge. The America Reads Challenge is a bipartisan, nationwide effort to help all children in the U.S. read independently & well by the end of 3rd grade. The President has proposed $2.75 billion to enlist one million reading tutors and help families & communities reach this goal. Currently, 40 percent of all children read below the basic level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (http://nces.ed.gov/naep/). "To appoint a person of Carol's stature, ability and experience to lead this critical initiative," Secretary Riley said, "underscores the importance that President Clinton places on this effort. I can't think of a better person to lead us in this critical effort."

Also last month, 20 college presidents pledged to set aside half the new work-study positions on their campuses for students who want to tutor children in reading. President Clinton had changed federal work-study rules in November so that colleges & universities are no longer required to pay 25% of the cost for work-study students who tutor children in reading. Colleges whose presidents signed up for the America Reads Challenge include...

Bank Street College of Education, the California State University System, Chicago State University, the Community College of Denver, Georgetown University, Gettysburg College, Miami-Dade Community College, Morehouse College, New York University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Portland State University, San Francisco State University, Southern Illinois University, the University of Maryland at College Park, the University of Mississippi, the University of Montana, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Vermont State Colleges.

For more information on the America Reads Challenge, please see: http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/

READING RESOURCES

What organizations might serve as resources for families, schools & communities seeking to help children read & write better? Answers can be found in "Just Add Kids," a directory created for READ*WRITE*NOW!, the year- round partnering program that aims to strengthen the reading & writing skills of children from preschool to Grade 6. It's in our Online Library at: http://www.ed.gov/Family/ Paper copies & additional information on READ*WRITE*NOW! are also available by calling 1-800-USA-LEARN.

HELPING ALL CHILDREN LEARN

A record 43.4 percent of America's students with disabilities attended regular classrooms with non- disabled students in 1993-94, according to the Department's "Eighteenth Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" (IDEA). The report, released last month, also tells that the number of students in special ed continued to grow, hitting a record 5.43 million (ages 6-21) in 1994-95 -- up from 5.27 million in 1993-94 and 4.45 million in 1987-88. This growth is due in large part to a rise in the number of students reporting a learning disability. Just over half of these 5.43 million students had specific learning disabilities (51.1%). Another 20.8% had speech or language impairments, while 11.6% suffered from mental retardation and 8.7% had serious emotional disturbance. The executive summary & Chapter 1 of the report are available in our Online Library, with the other chapters to follow soon: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/OSEP96AnlRpt/

CHARTER SCHOOLS CONFERENCE

Teachers, parents & community leaders are invited to attend "Building Charter Schools," a conference on January 16, 17 and 18 at Teachers College in New York City. Participants can expect to leave the conference with ideas and strategies for developing a shared vision for their school, tapping human & other resources (including business & legal professionals), and meeting other challenges associated with creating a charter school. The conference fee is $295; however, this fee will be covered by the U.S. Department of Education for a limited number of charter school developers from the Atlantic Region. To be eligible, you must:

For more information, please contact Miriam Cilo of The Center for Educational Outreach & Innovation (Miriamrc@aol.com or 212-678-3086). The conference is being sponsored by Teachers College, New York University, and the U.S. Department of Education.

LOAN DEFAULT DROP

The national student loan default rate has fallen to 10.7% -- less than half the 22.4% level of just 4 years ago & the lowest default rate ever -- President Clinton announced today. Secretary Riley attributed the decline (which is based on fiscal year 1994, the most current data available), to a combination of accountability efforts by the Department, tough enforcement sanctions authorized by the Congress, and strong efforts by the schools themselves. The Secretary also noted that defaulted student loan collections by the federal government & guaranty agencies more than doubled from $1 billion in fiscal year 1992 to $2.2 billion in fiscal year 1996. As a result, the net default costs were $249 million in 1996, compared to $1.7 billion in 1992. Additional information can be found in the soon-to-be- available press release at: http://www.ed.gov/news.html#pr

ONLINE LIBRARY

Recent additions to our Online Library include...

You'll find these recent additions (& more) at: http://www.ed.gov/news.html

ED Initiatives is made possible by many contributors, including Stephanie Babyak, Joy Belin, Jim Bradshaw, Jennifer Davis, Norris Dickard, Terri Ferinde, Jane Glickman, Menahem Herman, Peter Kickbush, Bill Kincaid, Jessica Levin, John McGrath, Eileen Nicosia & 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.

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Last Updated -- December 10, 1998, (det)