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- Subject: Update -- ED Initiatives (August 23) (fwd)
- From: Mike Eisenberg <mike@ERICIR.SYR.EDU>
- Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 17:10:10 -0400
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 16:41:02 -0400
From: Kirk Winters <Kirk_Winters@ed.gov>
To: Multiple recipients of list <edinfo@inet.ed.gov>
Subject: Update -- ED Initiatives (August 23)
**************
ED Initiatives...
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A weekly look at progress on the Secretary's priorities
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August 23, 1996
----------
GOALS 2000
---------- On August 22, the Alabama State Board of
Education voted 6-2 to participate in Goals 2000, reversing
an earlier decision not to participate. Communities in 49
states are now participating in Goals 2000.
-----------------------------------------------------
BABY BOOM ECHO PUTS K-12 ENROLLMENTS AT ALL-TIME HIGH
----------------------------------------------------- "This
fall we will set a new national record -- 51.7 million
children in our nation's public & private schools,"
Secretary Riley announced on August 21 at the release of "A
Special Back-to-School Report: The Baby Boom Echo." But
this year marks just the halfway point in a 20-year trend of
rising enrollments. By the year 2006, says the report,
America's schools will have 54.6 million students -- nearly
3 million more than today. That means over the next 10
years, the nation will need about 190,000 additional
teachers, more than 6,000 additional schools, &
approximately $15 billion in additional annual operating
expenditures. The full text of the report is available in
our Online Library at: http://www.ed.gov/NCES/bbecho/
------------------------------------------
AMERICA GOES BACK TO SCHOOL: GET INVOLVED!
------------------------------------------ What is the
Department doing to support the AMERICA GOES BACK TO SCHOOL:
GET INVOLVED! effort? This week Secretary Riley sent
employees a memo answering that question. On the first day
of school in D.C. (September 3), Department staff will join
hundreds of other volunteers helping parents & students
pledge to work toward academic excellence over the coming
school year. A new mentoring program is being planned that will
match Department employees with local high school students.
Flexitime & Flexiplace work arrangements let employees
arrange their schedules to have more time at home with their
families. The Department also matches up to 4 hours of
leave time per month for employees who want to help out in a
local school. In addition, the Department will continue its
READ*WRITE*NOW! reading partnership with Garrison Elementary
School. Begun in March 1995, this program matches 2nd & 5th
graders with Department employees to read together once a
week for 20 minutes. To find out more about AMERICA GOES
BACK TO SCHOOL: GET INVOLVED!, please visit our homepage at:
http://www.ed.gov/Family/agbts/
---------------------------------------------
NEW ADULT LEARNING & LITERACY RESEARCH CENTER
--------------------------------------------- Secretary
Riley announced this week the selection of Harvard
University & World Education to establish a National Center
for the Study of Adult Learning & Literacy. The center will
focus on improving educational programs for adults who lack
solid reading and math skills, as well as adults who do not
speak English or do not have a high school diploma. The
Secretary noted that "An estimated 90 million Americans fall
within this target group" & that their "opportunities are
often severely limited" by weak literacy skills. The
center, which is being supported by the Department's Office
of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), will provide
practical advice to teachers, tutors, & adult education
leaders who are working to improve literacy in local
communities across America. It will also seek advice about
what works & what issues need to be addressed from adult
learners, practitioners, and local, state & national leaders
this field. For additional information, please see the
press release at: http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/08-
1996/harvard.html
----------------------------
TECHNOLOGY: ONLINE WORKSHOPS
---------------------------- Schools & libraries could gain
up to $1 billion annually from a "universal service fund"
established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Learn
about provisions affecting that fund in an online seminar
August 26 through September 27. Results of the seminar
discussion will be sent to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) for use in their decision about how
students can best be served by the new Telecommunications
Act. Online registration began August 19. For more
information, please visit the Information Renaissance web
site at: http://info-ren.pitt.edu
"Helping parents, teachers, & others work together to select
assistive technology for students" is the topic of a 4-week
online workshop hosted by the National Center to Improve
Practice (NCIP). An email address & access to the Web are
needed to participate in the workshop, which begins
September 23. Registration is free, but the number of
participants is limited. For a registration form or for
more information, contact NCIP at ncip@edc.org. NCIP
(http://www.edc.org/FSC/NCIP/) is supported by the
Department's Office of Special Education Programs.
------------------------------
TECHNOLOGY & MIGRANT EDUCATION
------------------------------ An August 20 Federal Register
Notice of Proposed Priority invites comments on a proposed
"Technology Applications for Teaching & Learning in the
Migrant Community" grant competition. Subject to changes
based on public comment, a final notice announcing the
competition will be published this fall, at which time the
application package will also be available. About $3
million could be awarded to fund proposals that show promise
of using technology to help migrant students reach high
academic standards. An electronic copy of the August 20
Federal Register notice is at http://www.ed.gov/news.html#fr
(in "Proposed Regulations, Priorities and Other Rules").
------------------------------------
WINNICK NAMED "BEST BOSS IN AMERICA"
------------------------------------ Steven Winnick, deputy
general counsel at the Department, has been named "Best Boss
in America for Working Mothers" by Redbook Magazine.
Winnick was chosen in a competition that involved over 700
nominations. His nomination was submitted by two job
sharing attorneys & mothers who work for him, Amy Comstock &
Joan Bardee.
-------------------------
NEW IN THE ONLINE LIBRARY
------------------------- Recent additions to the Online
Library (http://www.ed.gov/news.html) include:
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announces the
availability of a draft document entitled Sexual
Harassment Guidance: Peer Sexual Harassment. The
Guidance provides educational institutions with
information regarding the standards used by OCR to
investigate & resolve cases involving claims that peer
sexual harassment has created a hostile environment in
violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972. Comments on the draft Guidance must be received
on or before September 30, 1996. For further
information, see the request for comments in the August
16 Federal Register.
The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
(FIPSE) has posted the FY97 Comprehensive Program
Application for Grants, an annual competition for
grants to support innovative reform projects which
promise to be models for the solution of problems in
postsecondary education.
Reaching All Families: Creating Family-Friendly Schools
presents accumulated knowledge and fresh ideas on
school outreach strategies. With them, schools can
reach out to all families and help involve them in
their children's education.
Sixty-three new ERIC Digests, short reports on topics
of prime current interest in education, have been added
to the full-text searchable database, which now
contains 1,600 Digests published through July 1996.
A Discretionary Grants Reengineering effort is
proceeding at the Department. This redesign will shift
the emphasis from the time-consuming and labor
intensive administrative process of awarding grants to
one of promoting successful project outcomes and
serving our customer's needs. The Grants Reengineering
Team has produced several documents to acquaint the
grants community on the progress of this re-invention
effort.
Achieving the Goals: Goal 4 is intended to inform
practitioners in the nation's schools and school
districts and policymakers about the resources
available at the federal level to support efforts to
improve initial teacher preparation and ongoing
professional development.
------------------------------------------------
ED Initiatives is made possible by contributors
across the Department, including Nabeel Alsalam,
Jennifer Ballen, Tony Cavataio, Jennifer Davis,
Norris Dickard, James English, Harold Himmelfarb,
Peter Kickbush, Bill Kincaid, Rick Miller, Linda
Roberts, Cindy Sprunger, Keith Stubbs, Kevin
Sullivan, Mark Taylor, David Thomas, & others.
------------------------------------------------
Kirk Winters
Office of the Under Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
kirk_winters@ed.gov
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