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

Table of Contents Budget Fixing Our Schools From the Bottom Up The American High School Improving America's Schools Conferences Safe Schools After-School Fairs & Website Access America for Students Survey of High School Students Y2K Teleconference for Schools New Online Credits

Budget Last week, in response to the House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee vote, Secretary Riley said, "At a time when federal investment in education is the highest priority for the American public, the House Appropriations Subcommittee has taken the irresponsible action of cutting our nation's investment in education & slashing the very programs that Americans want." He noted that efforts to reduce class size & support GEAR UP would vanish, that no funds would be provided to help communities build & repair schools, & that funds for technology, reading, & after-school programs would be cut. His statement and PDF versions of House and Senate Subcommittee action on FY 2000 appropriations for the Education Department are at: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/09-1999/budget.html files no longer available http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/00House.pdf http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/00Senate.pdf The Senate Appropriations Committee is working on its version of the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill this afternoon. The Secretary's statement will be posted at: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/

Fixing Our Schools From the Bottom Up Last week, in testimony before the House of Representatives Budget Committee, Secretary Riley described the Administration's efforts to help reduce class size, strengthen teacher quality, increase accountability, support school construction & modernization, expand public school choice, & turn around failing schools. On this last topic, he pointed to Harriet Tubman Elementary School, a NYC school that devised a plan for comprehensive change, including an intensive reading program. Two years later, the percentage of its students reading at or above grade level rose from 30% to 46%. He also mentioned Hawthorne Elementary School, a Texas school where, 4 years after introducing a rigorous curriculum for students in the early grades, 63% of students passed all portions of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), compared to 24% in 1994. "These schools share much in common with other high-performing, high-poverty schools," the Secretary said. "In a survey of 1,200 top scoring schools with at least a 50% poverty rate, the Education Trust found that 80% reported using standards to design instruction, assess student work & evaluate teachers. Similar percentages reported the use of systematic early intervention strategies as well as the use of extended learning time for students, particularly in reading & math. And nearly all schools dedicated significant resources to professional development for teachers." ... His testimony, "Fixing Our Schools From the Bottom Up: State, Local, & Private Reform Initiatives," is at: http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/09-1999/990923.html

The American High School "Today, I want to start a national dialogue on the American high school & make a set of recommendations to get that conversation going," Secretary Riley said this month in his annual back-to-school address. His recommendations include... accelerated learning for all students intervention for students who are struggling -- some combination of tutoring, after-school, Saturday schooling, & summer school testing of 8th graders by school districts, to make sure that students entering high school have solid reading & math skills 75% of students taking the core academic courses by 2005 (half our students do so today) advanced placement (AP) or other advanced courses in the core subjects offered in every high school in America in the next 2 years. (Today, 49% of high schools offer AP courses & only 10% of our students take these courses.) Secretary Riley spoke also about the need to support creative principals & teachers, create small schools, focus on helping students make the transitions into & out of high school successfully, rethink the senior year, & involve parents. He mentioned the idea of communities paying teachers during the summer to plan curricula & learn new teaching skills. His speech is at: http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/09-1999/990915.html

Improving America's Schools Conferences The Department's 1999 Regional Conferences on Improving America's Schools begin next month in 3 locations: Tampa, FL, October 6-8; Salt Lake City, UT, November 8-10; & Chicago, IL, December 15-17. Secretary Riley invites you to "take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn more about our programs & priorities & how we can continue to work together in promoting equity & excellence in all of our schools." To register for the conference in your region, please call 1-800-203-5494. For more information, including descriptions of conference workshops & case studies on comprehensive reform, please see: http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/iasconferences/index.htm

Safe Schools President Clinton announced this month more than $100 million in grants to 54 communities to make schools safer & help protect youngsters from violent behavior and drug & alcohol use. Under the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, school districts submitted comprehensive plans aimed to link community-based services & prevention activities into one community-wide approach to violence prevention & healthy child development. Each plan was developed in partnership with local law enforcement officials & mental health authorities, in collaboration with families, juvenile justice officials, & community-based organizations. For descriptions of the 3-year projects -- supported by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED), Justice (DOJ) & Health & Human Services (HHS) -- please see: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSDFS/ ALSO THIS MONTH, Secretary Riley described the Department's violence prevention programs & activities before Senate Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, & Related Agencies. He said, among other things, that... "Despite recent, high-profile cases such as those in Jefferson County, CO, & Springfield, OR, schools remain safe places. Less than 1% of homicides among youth aged 12-19 occur in schools & 90% of schools haven't reported any serious violent crime." "There is a direct link between school reform issues & safe schools. Safe schools are schools where teachers are adequately trained, where the ratio between teachers & students is sufficient to ensure that no children fall between the cracks, where the instructional program is strong, where teachers & students treat each other with respect & civility, & where buildings are not over crowded or decaying." "The most effective way to address school crime & violence is through a community-wide approach." His testimony is at: http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/09-1999/990914.html

After-School Fairs & Website This month Vice President Gore announced after-school "resource fairs" & a new website to highlight existing federal resources & expand after-school opportunities around the country. Programs that can assist children & youth will be showcased at the fairs, which will be held in 15 cities & one state: Atlanta, Boston, Chattanooga, Dallas, Des Moines, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., & Vermont. Information on 100+ federal grant programs & links to federal education publications & websites can be found at the new website: http://www.afterschool.gov

Access America for Students An effort to change the way government does business with postsecondary students opened in April an online gateway to financial aid & related services for students -- everything from financing their education to student internships to filing taxes online. The initiative, Access America for Students (AAFS), is piloting secure, private Internet access to financial aid information for students at 7 colleges & universities. For updates on AAFS, on which the Department is collaborating with 11 agencies, you are invited to subscribe to AAFS "Headline News." The second monthly issue tells... what student financial aid directors at AAFS pilot schools think about the new online system now handling student financial aid data & dollar transfers how students will be able to find government internships through a new online database where anyone interested in lifelong learning can access information on more than 100,000 training & education opportunities. For the full articles & subscription informtion, please see: http://www.students.gov/STUGOVWebApp/Public

Survey of High School Students More than 2/3 of high school students say it is "tough" being a teenager today, according to The Shell Poll of 1,000 high school students. Secretary Riley participated in the release of the poll results last month, noting its findings that teenagers "feel a great deal of pressure to get good grades (44%) & to get into college (32%), & those 2 pressures out weigh the pressure they feel to 'fit in socially' (29%), use drugs (19%), or be sexually active (13%)." Among other results he mentioned: "One in 5 teenagers say they have their hands full grappling with 5 or more serious problems & all at one time." (Problems include doing poorly in school, pressure to use drugs & alcohol, a difficult family life, being worried about violence, an unwanted pregnancy, & not having enough to do.) "About 80% of all teenagers 'rely a lot for support' & guidance on their parents." "Seven in 10 teenagers say they have a teacher that they feel close to, & close to half of those polled say they have had a teacher who has changed their lives." "Nearly half of our sample gave high schools low marks when it comes to providing students with smaller classes & more personal attention. High school students also believe that smaller schools are safer." "Nearly 40% of all teenagers work 'just hard enough' to get by in school. Here we see a gender gap emerging with a solid 67% of all girls making their best effort compared to only 53% of all boys." "43% of our teenagers are telling us that drug & alcohol use is a very serious problem among their friends." The Secretary said "there is a wonderful hopefulness in our teenagers, which stands in sharp contrast to a consistent negativity that all too often seems to define how we adults think about our young people." For the text of his remarks & The Shell Poll results, please see: http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/08-1999/990825.html

Y2K Teleconference for Schools Join experts from the education community on September 30 for a special teleconference on how schools across the country are squashing the millennium bug & preparing for possible glitches. The live teleconference will look at issues such as system testing, contingency planning, & the role of state & local governments in ensuring Y2K compliance. The event, designed for K-12 school officials, will be webcast live from noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT. For more information about the teleconference, survey results, & other Y2K efforts -- including the "Year 2000 Guide for Elementary & Secondary Schools & School Districts" -- please see: http://www.ed.gov/y2k/ LAST MONTH the Department & National Schools Boards Association reported the results of a national survey in which only 28% of school districts said all their mission critical systems are fully prepared for Y2K's effect on computers & other technology devices. However, 98% of the districts reported that their key systems would be completely Y2K ready by January 1, 2000. CONCERN ABOUT SCHOOLS' Y2K READINESS was reiterated last week by Acting Deputy Secretary Marshall Smith. The fact that most districts are planning to complete their Y2K efforts during the final quarter of the year, he explained to a congressional committee, "leaves little room for the delays that often occur in renovating complex computer-based systems." He also encouraged postsecondary institutions to test their data exchanges with the Department. His statement & the survey results are at: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/08-1999/survey.html http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/09-1999/0999y2k.html

New Online NAEP 1998 Writing Report Card Highlights, released today by the National Center for Education Statistics, describes major findings & looks at students' experiences that appear to be associated with achievement in writing. http://nces.ed.gov/commissioner/remarks99/9_28_99.asp Ideas at Work: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader, a directory of innovative programs, offers ideas, resources & strategies for helping children from birth through age 9 in various settings. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/ideasatwork/ Bringing Education to After-School Programs tells how reading, math, college preparation, technology, & the arts can be integrated into after-school programs to enhance children's learning & build on the school program. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/After_School_Programs/