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

Resource Activities at the U. S. Department of Education

• Partnership for Family Involvement in Education
  600 Independence Avenue, S.W.
  Washington, DC 20202-8173
  The Partnership is an informal organization of thousands of parent, school, community, employer, and religious organizations coming together to support family-school-community partnerships to help children achieve to standards of excellence. Call 1-800-USA-LEARN for more information.

• Extending Learning in the Basics Title I
  Title I encourages greater and more productive use of time outside of the classroom. Extending Learning Time for Disadvantaged Students: An Idea Book produced by the U.S. Department of Education, provides information on how Title I schools can enhance learning outside of the traditional school day, week, or year. Contact your State Department of Education for more information on your State's Title I program or the U.S. Department of Education at 202-260-0826.

• Making Schools Safe and Drug Free
  The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act provides funding through the U.S. Department of Education to help schools build local partnerships to reduce violence and drug use. The law authorizes "the promotion of before- and after-school recreational, instructional, cultural, and artistic programs in supervised community settings." The act offers school districts the flexibility to design their own comprehensive school safety programs and coordinate them with community agencies. For information, call 202-260-3954.

• 21st Century Community Learning Centers
  This new initiative would help rural and inner-city public schools stay open after school hours to serve as safe, neighborhood learning centers where students can do their homework and obtain tutoring and mentoring services. The President is asking Congress to expand this program to develop hundreds of new after-school programs focused on improving student achievement and preventing violence and substance abuse. For information, call 202-219-1591.

• The Federal TRIO Programs
  The TRIO programs fund postsecondary education outreach and student support services designed to encourage students from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter and complete college. Upward Bound provides intensive academic instruction, tutoring, and cultural enrichment activities to high school students in Saturday and summer classes, and funds mathematics and science regional centers to encourage students to pursue postsecondary degrees in those fields. Talent Search identifies disadvantaged youth ages 11 and up with the potential for postsecondary education and encourages them to graduate from secondary school and enroll in college, with services like mentoring, academic counseling, college admission and financial aid information, and a special initiative focusing on academic enrichment for sixth and seventh graders. For information, call 202-347-7430.

• The Federal Work-Study Program
  The Work-Study program provides grants to participating colleges and universities to pay up to seventy-five percent of the wages of needy undergraduate and graduate students working part-time to help pay their college costs. The institution or participating program pays the other twenty-five percent of the eligible students' wages. To encourage more students to work as reading tutors, and support the America Reads Challenge, the Department of Education has agreed to waive the institutional match for students who tutor kindergarten and elementary school students in reading, beginning in the 1997-98 school year. The President's goal is to have 100,000 college Work-Study students, as well as other college students, involved in helping our children read well. These college students can be a great resource for after-school programs. For information, call 202-708-4690.

[Resource Organizations]

[Publications from the U.S. Department of Education]