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 Helping All Children Master the Foundations of Mathematics... Two Years of College & Lifelong Learning... All Classrooms Connected to the Internet... Making All Schools Strong, Safe, Drug-free & Disciplined Helping All Children Reach High Standards Strengthening Family Involvement New Website for Teaching & Learning Resources Congressional Action "Youth Courts" Satellite Broadcast New Online Credits

HELPING ALL CHILDREN MASTER THE FOUNDATIONS OF MATHEMATICS BY THE END OF 8th GRADE The largest & most comprehensive international study of schools & students ever, the Third International Mathematics & Science Study (TIMSS), is the focus of a live national satellite broadcast on May 11 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. EDT. The broadcast will examine TIMSS in local, national, & international contexts, & it will feature various TIMSS-related resources, including the Department's TIMSS Resource Kit & the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse's new website & CD-ROM, "Tools for Discussion: Attaining Excellence Through TIMSS" (http://www.enc.org/from_timss/). A panel of national science & mathematics professionals will discuss achievement, curriculum, teaching, the lives of teachers & students, & the implications of TIMSS, as well as resources available for improving math & science performance. Viewers will be able to comment & ask questions by phone or fax. The broadcast is being offered by the Eisenhower Regional Consortia for Mathematics & Science Education & the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics & Science Education at no charge. For more information, please see: http://www.col-ed.org/timssvideo.html or contact your regional Eisenhower Consortium: http://www.mathsciencenetwork.org/connect.htm

TWO YEARS OF COLLEGE & LIFELONG LEARNING FOR ALL STUDENTS The new "Closed School Information" webpage explains how postsecondary students can continue their education & resolve student loan issues if they attended a school that has closed. This page allows students & financial aid administrators to identify & document instantly the "closed status" of postsecondary schools, & it can be used to confirm whether a student is eligible for cancellation of a student loan received at a school that closed while the student was enrolled. For more information, please see: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/Students/

ALL CLASSROOMS CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET; ALL STUDENTS TECHNOLOGICALLY LITERATE During the initial 75-day "window" for applying for telecommunications discounts under the $2.25 billion E-rate fund, more than 30,000 Form 471s were received by the Schools & Libraries Corporation (SLC) from schools, school districts & libraries across all 50 states. Applications continue to be accepted for 1998 funds, which will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. The application process for 1999 commences on July 1, 1998.

MAKING ALL SCHOOLS STRONG, SAFE, DRUG-FREE & DISCIPLINED According to a report released on April 12 by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)... The percent of students reporting street gang presence at school nearly doubled between 1989 & 1995, from 15.3% to 28.4%. The percentage of students reporting that they'd been victims of a violent crime increased from 3.4% to 4.2%. The percentage of students reporting that marijuana, cocaine, crack, or uppers/downers were available at school increased from 63.2% to 65.3%. The percentage of students who reported seeing another student with a gun at school & who reported knowing another student who brought a gun to school was 5.3% & 12.7% (available for 1995 only). The full report, "Students' Reports of School Crime: 1989 & 1995," is at: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=98241XXXXX

HELPING ALL CHILDREN REACH HIGH STANDARDS A training package for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 is now online. It focuses on legal requirements & provisions of IDEA 1997 & includes 500 pages of background information, resources, handouts & a series of 145 overhead transparencies. The package, developed by the Department's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) & the National Information Center for Children & Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY), can be tailored to the needs of a variety of audiences -- special educators, general educators, state special education directors & administrators, parents & others. The training package can be ordered from NICHCY (for $175) by calling 1-800-695-0285 to request an order form, & is available online at: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/Policy/IDEA/train.html

STRENGTHENING FAMILY INVOLVEMENT Family Involvement in Children's Education features strategies that 20 local Title I programs use to overcome barriers to parent involvement. The 150-page report highlights a number of strategies, including family resource centers... Greensville County Public Schools (Emporia, VA) provides a 34-foot customized bus serving rural parents of students receiving Title I services. The bus travels to 4 sites a day & remains at least 2 hours at each site. It houses 2 classrooms equipped with adjustable tables, chairs, bulletin boards, chalkboards, televisions, a video-cassette recorder, cassette players, & laptop computers. Instructional materials include parenting videos & kits, books, newspapers, magazines, computer software, models, & samples of instructional materials that parents can check out to use with their children. Parents receive help in selecting appropriate books to read with their children, & see videos of families reading & learning together. The parent resource center serves 12-18 parents at a time. Six area businesses allow the parent resource center to visit their work sites so that employees who are parents can visit before or after work or during breaks. For additional strategies, please see the full text of this 150-page idea book: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/FamInvolve/ Note: A "schoolwide program" may use Title I funds combined with other federal education funds to upgrade the school's entire educational program rather than to deliver federally supported services only to identified children. Under the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, Title I requires that schools & districts adopt specific strategies for developing school-family partnerships.

NEW WEBSITE FOR TEACHING & LEARNING RESOURCES Hundreds of teaching & learning resources from more than 35 federal agencies are now available at one website, Secretary Riley announced this month. He noted that the Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) website offers "one-stop shopping for a treasure trove of historical documents, scientific experiments, mathematical challenges, famous paintings, & other tools for teachers & students." The site includes... search tools for finding federal resources on thousands of academic topics -- the Constitution, photosynthesis, immigration, Thomas Jefferson, Mary Cassatt, Jackie Robinson, the Amistad Case, the America Reads Challenge, famous FBI cases, cartography, the Renaissance, calculus simulations, the African American odyssey, today in history, the human genome project, the solar system, the microbe zoo, & others. an effort to support federal agencies partnering with teachers & organizations to develop new Internet-based learning resources & Internet-based learning communities. The FREE website is at: http://www.ed.gov/free/ A press release about the website can be found at: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/04-1998/one-stop.html

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION Yesterday, the Senate rejected a series of alternatives to a bill authored by Senator Coverdell (Georgia), H.R.2646, that would allow tax-free savings accounts for K-12 education. Among the legislation defeated was an Administration backed substitute measure, introduced by Senator Moseley-Braun (Illinois), that would provide $22 billion in tax-free bonds for school modernization. School modernization is a priority for President Clinton because one third of U.S. schools need major repairs & more than half have major building problems. Secretary Riley said that the tax-free accounts bill does not do enough for middle income families. The bill, he explained, "proposes a tax break that on average, will bring just $7 extra into the homes of Americans with public school children by 2002, & just $37 to taxpayers with children in private schools." The Senate also rejected other proposals supported by the Administration to help hire 100,000 new teachers through partial forgiveness of student loans. It approved proposals to encourage teacher testing & merit pay and to sanction same-sex schools & classes. Further consideration of H.R. 2646 is expected this week. President Clinton said he will veto the bill in its present form. For Secretary Riley's statement, please see: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/04-1998/dasch.html For the text of a letter from the President to the Majority & Minority Leaders of the Senate, please see: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/04-1998/wh-0420.html For more information on Modern Schools for the 21st Century, please see: http://www.ed.gov/inits/construction/ (Ed Note: Site no longer on-line)

"YOUTH COURTS" SATELLITE BROADCAST Although they've been around for more than 50 years, youth courts are growing rapidly across the U.S. Sometimes called peer or teen courts, youth courts provide a way for juvenile offenders to be held accountable by their peers for misdemeanor offenses such as truancy, substance use, fighting at school, school disciplinary problems, graffiti & shoplifting. On May 27 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT, the youth court concept will be examined in a live national satellite videoconference. Effective practices in youth court programs will be highlighted, including models being used in Odessa, TX; Colonie, NY; & San Francisco, CA. The deadline for registration, which is free, is May 15. The broadcast is being hosted by the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention. For more information, please contact Becky Ritchey by email (beckytrc@iclub.org), phone (606-622-6671) or fax (606-662-4397).

NEW ONLINE The new Teacher's Guide to the U.S. Department of Education compiles information about the Department's services for teachers, in hopes of increasing teachers' access to educational resources. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/TeachersGuide/ The Office of Postsecondary Education has updated the list of Title IV school codes & improved the search capability for use in filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms. The Comprehensive Centers Network's new website offers users the opportunity to learn more about the Network & the individual centers, access regional & national calendars, & link to each Center's web site. http://www.ccnetwork.org The Department of Education's Office of Reform Assistance & Dissemination (ORAD) has a new website. ORAD supports comprehensive education reform by linking the education community with the best knowledge from education research, statistics, & practice. http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ORAD/

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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