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

Table of Contents High Standards for All Students America Reads Challenge FCC Listservs & Broadcast Technology Literacy... Brain Research... President's Summit... Learning & Earning Online Library Survey... Online Library Credits

HIGH STANDARDS FOR ALL STUDENTS On April 29, Secretary Riley testified on "Voluntary National Tests for Reading & Math" before the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth & Families. Parents & teachers will be able to use these 90- minute tests, he said, to see how well their 4th graders are reading & how well their 8th graders are learning mathematics compared to students in other states. Specifications for these tests, he noted, will be based on the frameworks used to develop the 4th-grade reading & the 8th-grade math portions of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which 43 states use to compare their performance to other states. The Secretary's statement, examples of reading & math questions from NAEP, and a chart comparing state assessment results to NAEP results are at: http://www.ed.gov/news.html#speech For more information on voluntary national tests, see: http://www.ed.gov/nationaltests/

AMERICA READS CHALLENGE On April 28, the President sent Congress a bill that would help communities make sure that every child in America reads well & independently by the end of 3rd grade. The "America Reads Challenge Act of 1997" would support community efforts to provide extra reading assistance to children who need it, with tutor coordinators recruiting & organizing more than 1 million volunteer tutors trained by reading specialists. By the 5th year of the program, tutors -- in coordination with the classroom reading program -- would provide individual after-school, weekend & summer tutoring for approximately 3 million children in grades K-3 who need extra help. Local communities & organizations that assist parents in helping children learn to read (from birth onward) would also be supported by the legislation, which will be available soon on the America Reads Challenge home page: http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/

FCC LISTSERVS & BROADCAST With deep telecommunications discounts possible for schools & libraries, depending on a May 7 vote, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is offering two listservs for educators: "FCCsend" -- a one-way (non-interactive) listserv that provides the latest FCC updates & suggestions for preparing your school or library to get the most out of communications technology. To subscribe, send e-mail to: subscribe@info.fcc.gov In the message, write: sub FCCsend Chris Brown (substitute your own first & last name for Chris Brown). "FCCshare" -- an interactive listserv for communicating with teachers, parents & others using education technology. To sign up, send e-mail to: subscribe@info.fcc.gov In the message space, write: sub FCCshare Chris Brown (substitute your own first and last name for Chris Brown). Also, an open meeting of the FCC on May 7 will be broadcast over the Internet by the Center for Democracy & Technology. Live proceedings of the meeting will be available via audio feed, written transcript, still pictures & explanatory notes. Viewers & listeners will be able to send in comments & questions, and post-meeting press releases will be at: http://www.cdt.org/ More information on the May 7 decision -- which could mean 20% to 90% off Internet access charges & other telecommunications services for schools & libraries -- and updates on education-related FCC policies & initiatives can be found at: http://www.fcc.gov/learnnet The FCC also welcomes e-mail messages at: learnet@fcc.gov

TECHNOLOGY LITERACY CHALLENGE FUND On April 19, the President announced Technology Literacy Challenge Fund (TLCF) awards to Alaska, Connecticut, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, & South Dakota, bringing to 23 the number of states that have received grants under this program. Alaska will use its $1 million grant to expand distance learning technology to help meet the needs of remote areas. Connecticut will focus much of its $1.4 million grant on professional development -- how to maintain local area networks & integrate technology into instruction. Nebraska's $1 million grant will help ensure that all of its rural areas benefit from its "Interactive Distance Learning Pod" system for distance learning & other technology efforts. The President has requested $425 million for the TLCF in fiscal year 1998 (it received $200 million this year), which is designed to help provide technology training & support for all teachers, access to modern computers for all students & teachers, connections to the Internet for all classrooms & schools, and high quality software & online resources as part of the curriculum in every school. For more information, please see the April 19 press releases: http://www.ed.gov/news.html#pr

BRAIN RESEARCH & EARLY CHILDHOOD Talking, singing & reading to our youngest children (birth - age 3) has a dramatic impact on brain development & improves children's ability to learn throughout their lives, according to experts & scientific findings featured at the April 17 "White House Conference on Early Childhood Development & Learning: What New Research on the Brain Tells Us About Our Youngest Children." At the conference, the President called for... improving child care quality by learning from the military child care system (the best in the nation) extending health coverage to as many as 5 million uninsured children by the year 2000 expanding Early Head Start enrollment by 1/3 next year > early childhood development *training* for community police officers, prosecutors, probation and parole officers, school personnel & mental health providers. He also released "Ready*Set*Read," a kit of activities for families & caregivers with children ages 0-5 (available soon in our Online Library). For links to a dozen web sites & pages on brain research & early childhood development -- including the Carnegie Corporation's "Starting Points," activities for infants, what constitutes quality child care & more -- please see: http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/Pages/families/nncc/wh/whconf.html#anchor511316

PRESIDENT'S SUMMIT FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE A multi-year effort to provide America's 15 million at-risk young people with resources that can help them succeed was kicked off this week in Philadelphia by former presidents Bush, Carter, and Ford, as well as Mrs. Nancy Reagan & President Clinton. These resources include... an ongoing relationship with a mentor a safe place & structured activity during non-school hours to learn & grow a healthy start a marketable skill through effective education an opportunity to give back through community service. Delegates at the summit are sharing "best practices" for providing such resources, which will be reported on the President's Summit web site: http://www.citizenservice.org/

LEARNING & EARNING College graduates are earning 50% more than high school graduates & more than twice what high school dropouts earn, according to "Education & the Economy: An Indicators Report." This new National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report looks at labor force trends in productivity, earnings & education, and it examines the link between education & individual labor market outcomes, including employment & earnings. It confirms that individuals... having higher literacy scores are unemployed less & earn more than workers with lower literacy scores. having a record of high academic achievement (as measured by achievement test scores) are unemployed less & earn more than workers with lower scores. The executive summary is at: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs97/97939.html

ONLINE LIBRARY SURVEY RESULTS "Who uses the Department's Online Library? How satisfied are our customers with the Department's Internet-based services?" These & other questions appeared in a survey posted on the Department's home page in November & sent to 7,000+ EDInfo participants. Customers were generally "satisfied," giving Department Internet services a rating of 3.98 on a 5-point scale (with 1 being "very dissatisfied" and 5 "very satisfied"). Highlights & an analysis of the results are at: http://www.ed.gov/Survey/execsum.html http://www.ed.gov/Survey/custmemo.html A special thanks to EDInfo participants for supplying nearly 1,000 of the 1,300+ survey responses!

ONLINE LIBRARY Recent additions to our Online Library include... "From Students of Teaching to Teachers of Students: Teacher Induction Around the Pacific Rim" (January 1997) examines what other countries do to help new teachers succeed. Includes case studies of teacher induction programs in Japan, New Zealand, and the Northern Territory of Australia. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/APEC/ "Creating Safe & Drug-Free Schools: An Action Guide" tells what schools, parents, students and community & business groups can do to create safe schools. Includes *information briefs* on issues affecting school safety, research & evaluation findings, resources, & additional readings. http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS/actguid/

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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