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

A biweekly look at progress on the Secretary's priorities

GOALS 2000

On January 10, Governor Allen announced that Virginia will apply for Goals 2000 funding. While the Department has yet to receive the application, this would mean that communities in all 50 states will soon be participating in Goals 2000.

In recent weeks, Secretary Riley has announced 3rd-year funding for Alabama, Connecticut, & Pennsylvania, bringing to 31 the number of states that are receiving 3rd-year support under Goals 2000. Connecticut last year (1995-96) made 78 2nd-year Goals 2000 grants to approximately 100 school districts. One grant is helping a consortium of 9 districts work with 8 universities & organizations to improve student learning through training for teachers, sharing instructional materials & assessment strategies, portfolios of student work, and visits by consortium members to each others' schools. Another grant is making it possible for Somers Public Schools teachers & parents to meet regularly & discuss school improvement activities, identify teachers' needs for volunteers, & participate in a joint parent-teacher summer institute.

FIRST IN THE WORLD

On January 22, President Clinton announced that out of 41 nations participating in the Third International Mathematics & Science Study (TIMSS), students in only one country -- Singapore -- outperformed 8th-graders in a consortium of 20 suburban Chicago school districts. (U.S. 8th-graders overall scored below average in math & above average in science, according to the TIMSS report released in November, "Pursuing Excellence.")

These 20 districts, known as the "First in the World Consortium," participated in TIMSS as a way of benchmarking their standards, curricula, instruction & assessments against those of other countries. One reason for their success is high expectations. About 50% of First in the World Consortium students take algebra by the end of grade 8, compared to 20% in the U.S. overall.

The President challenged states & other school districts to step forward & commit to...

• establishing rigorous academic standards in math & science

• intensifying their efforts to improve math & science teaching & student achievement

• participating in the TIMSS test (in 1997 or 1998) and examining their performance against 41 nations, to learn how they can improve.

For information resources that can help, or information about participating in TIMSS, call 1-800-USA-LEARN. Additional information about the First in the World Consortium is available at http://www.ed.gov/news.html and in a report about the Consortium at http://www.NCREL.org Information about TIMSS -- the largest, most comprehensive & rigorous international comparison of education ever undertaken -- is at http://nces.ed.gov/TIMSS/

SCHOOL TO WORK

School-to-work (STW) coordinators, high school teachers & counselors, administrators, chamber of commerce members, organized labor, employers & others are invited to a conference in St. Louis on March 17-18. The conference, "Joining Forces: School-to-Work & School Reform Partners for Student Success," is designed to help participants see how to...

• promote STW in their schools & communities
• integrate academic & STW curricula
• measure student outcomes in STW programs
• & more.

Updates on New American High Schools & national STW studies will be provided at the conference, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), and others. The deadline for registration, which is complimentary, is February 24. For additional information, please contact Norma Brown at (303) 337-0990 or nbrown@mcrel.org (www.mcrel.org).

SCHOOLWIDE PROGRAMS LISTSERV

The New England Comprehensive Assistance Center announced last month an online forum for discussing how to plan, implement, evaluate & continuously improve "schoolwide programs" (please see note below).

Topics to be discussed include instruction & assessment, curriculum development & school environment, model schoolwide plans & standards-based reform, professional development & equity, community & parental involvement, and more. Participation is not limited to the New England region & is open to anyone involved in Title I schoolwide programs -- teachers, principals & school administrators, education researchers, parents & others.

To subscribe, send an e-mail message to Compcenter@edc.org with the words "subscribe schoolwide" and your name, title, school/school district (if applicable) and your state in the body of the message (or visit http://www2.edc.org/necac/).

NOTE: "Creating a schoolwide program" is an option for schools participating in Title I if 50 percent (or more) of students in the school are from low-income homes. The idea is that a schoolwide program can help a school use all its resources to assist all students in reaching high academic standards. Title I (formerly "Chapter 1") is the largest federal program for elementary & secondary education. It provides about $7 billion annually to more than half the schools in the U.S. to support instruction for more than 6 million at- risk students. For more information on schoolwide programs or Title I, please see: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/ESEA/index.html

RURAL AMERICA & THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY TELECONFERENCE

Strategies for helping rural schools & communities gain access to advanced information technologies is the focus of a live teleconference on March 25. Sponsored by a coalition of 25 national organizations working to improve education in rural America, Organizations Concerned About Rural Education (OCRE), the teleconference will examine what rural schools & communities need (including equipment, infrastructure & training) if they are to take advantage of the Internet, satellite-based distance learning & other advanced technologies. Case studies of successful technology models in rural schools & communities will be featured. Former Wisconsin Representative Steve Gunderson will moderate the teleconference, which is being distributed nationwide by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) & produced in conjunction with the U.S. Distance Learning Association. For information about establishing a downlink site in your community, please call PBS at 1-800-257-2578.

ONLINE LIBRARY

Recent additions to our Online Library include...

• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) homepage -- http://nces.ed.gov/naep/

• Debt Collection Service homepage -- http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/

• The Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA) announces $53.7 million in new grant competitions -- http://www.ed.gov/offices/OBEMLA/funding.html

• The OERI Bulletin, Fall/Winter 1996 (Office of Educational Research & Improvement) -- http://www.ed.gov/bulletin/fallwin1996/table.html

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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[Past Issues of ED Initiatives]

Last Updated -- January 27, 1996, (pjk)