# Archived Information

# Goal 1. Build a solid foundation for learning for all children. 

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  To foster the movement toward world‑class student academic performance,
  our reform efforts focus on four main objectives that address different
  stages of student development.
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**Objective 1A: All children enter school ready to learn through
receiving** **high-quality educational and developmentally appropriate
preschool experiences.** We must support children\'s early development
and education, including support for optimal early cognitive
development, so they are ready to learn when they begin formal schooling
in kindergarten and beyond.

**Objective 1B: Every child reads well and independently by the end of
the third grade.** Children need to be able to read independently and
effectively in order to be able to apply reading to learning other
subjects.

**Objective 1C: Every eighth-grader masters challenging mathematics,
including the foundations of algebra and geometry.** Acquiring basic
mathematics skills and knowledge by the eighth grade prepares students
for more advanced work and is critical to student success in high school
and beyond. In mathematics, the latest results from the Third
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) affirm that poor
U.S. performance in the eighth grade is linked to mediocre content, lack
of instructional rigor, and inadequate training and support for quality
teaching. We must implement all recommendations of the Glenn Commission
to strengthen the teaching of mathematics.

**Objective 1D: Middle schools and secondary schools help all students
make successful transitions to college and careers.** We must be sure
that secondary school students get the information, skills, and support
they need to prepare successfully for postsecondary education and
careers. Students need to be able to clearly express their ideas, orally
and in writing; apply new information technology to education and,
later, to work; and attain fluency in more than one language and culture
in an increasingly global arena in which U.S. students are competing
with those around the world.

American schools must meet these aims for all our students. We must
address the diverse needs of the student population in order that all
students---including limited English proficient students, students with
disabilities, migrant students, students in high-poverty schools, and
any students at risk of not acquiring the knowledge and skills required
to achieve high state standards---receive the support and encouragement
they need to succeed.

## Objective 1A: All children enter school ready to learn through receiving high-quality educational and developmentally appropriate preschool experiences. 

Children's early childhood experiences are critical to building a solid
learning foundation. Research on early brain development reveals that
children who have high-quality early learning experiences, including a
language- and literacy-rich environment, are more likely to be
successful learners when they are older and are less likely to have
difficulty learning to read. High-quality early childhood programs are
particularly important for children from families with limited education
and for children with disabilities.

Preschool participation is increasing for poor children, however poor
children are still less likely to participate in preschool programs than
higher income children. According to the National Household Education
Survey, participation rates for children from poverty-level families
increased from 44 percent in 1993 and 1996 to 52 percent in 1999.
Non-poor children had higher rates of participation; in 1999, the
respective rates of participation were 52 percent for poor children and
62 percent for non-poor children. Many children from low-income or less
educated families also start kindergarten with a learning gap. For
example, 20 percent of the kindergarten children whose mothers had only
a high school diploma were proficient in recognizing beginning sounds
compared with 50 percent of the children whose mothers had at least a
bachelor\'s degree (NCES: *America\'s Kindergartners*, Early Childhood
Longitudinal Study, 2000). Similar disparities exist for Hispanic
preschoolers. Once children enter school behind, they usually fail to
catch up in later grades without intensive interventions (Planning and
Evaluation Service: PROSPECTS, 1994).

Challenges to improving early childhood education include low teacher
pay and a lack of high-quality professional development, which make it
difficult to hire and retain teachers who are well-trained in early
learning and development. Other challenges include the lack of equity
and access to high-quality early childhood services for low-income
families, students from Hispanic and other non-English speaking homes,
and children from Native American communities.

####### Performance Indicators and Targets 

1.  By 2005, preschool participation rates for low-income children will
    rise to 60 percent.

2.  By 2005, increasing proportions of low-income children who complete
    federally supported preschool programs, will enter school prepared
    to learn as measured by appropriate assessments of literacy and math
    competencies (in coordination with the Department of Health and
    Human Services through FACES, a longitudinal study of Head Start)
    extended to Title I, ESEA, and Even Start.

3.  By 2005, at least half the states will have enacted program quality
    standards for early childhood education programs, and curriculum
    content guidelines consistent with scientific understanding of
    children\' s early learning and special education including of
    non-English speaking students.

##### Our Role

The Federal role in early childhood education consists of providing
funding, guidance and technical assistance for Federal programs that
support quality early-childhood education services; conducting and
disseminating research on early childhood development and learning; and
measuring progress of young children, including children participating
in Federal programs, on achieving the national goal of ready-to-learn.

The U.S. Department of Education provides funding and guidance to
support quality programs that serve disadvantaged young children and
children with disabilities and their families, such as Even Start,
preschool programs supported by the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), IDEA Grants for Infants and Toddlers, and
preschool programs supported by Title I, Part A of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act. Through the America Reads Challenge, the U.S.
Department of Education disseminates research-based materials that
support and encourage parents to read and talk to their children and
engage in other daily activities to increase children's language
development.

The U.S. Department of Education provides leadership in early childhood
education by supporting and disseminating research-based knowledge of
effective policies and practices. Recent information from research on
brain development, early childhood education, and reading research,
provides a sound basis from which to develop and disseminate
informational products. The National Research Council\'s recent *Eager
to Learn* report, partially funded by the U.S. Department of Education,
provides information about the necessary components of high-quality
programs, including highly qualified staff, small class sizes, and
curriculum and pedagogical strategies that develop cognitive and
emergent literacy skills in a developmentally appropriate manner. To
help grantees plan, evaluate, and improve their programs, the U.S.
Department of Education will develop a guide for local programs that
identifies quality indicators based on these components.

A considerable amount of the Federal funding that supports programs for
young children is provided by other agencies. The U.S. Department of
Education is collaborating with other agencies, through the Federal
Interagency Coordinating Council under IDEA, and with the Department of
Health and Human Services, to coordinate early childhood education
services and performance measures.

##### Core Strategies 

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-   **Work to help states and districts expand preschool services in
    cooperation with HHS and state educational agencies.**

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-   Provide resources to state and local providers under Title I, Part
    A, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in
    order to support programs aimed at infants, toddlers, and preschool
    children with disabilities or those most at risk of developing
    disabling conditions.

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-   Provide resources to states and local districts under Title I, Part
    A and Even Start to support the availability of
    language-appropriate, early childhood services including
    dual-immersion programs.

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-   Encourage states and communities to expand their preschool efforts,
    including identifying opportunities for joint funding among states,
    the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human
    Services, and particularly coordination between Title I, Part A;
    Even Start Family Literacy Services; and Head Start.

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-   **Facilitate state and local implementation of research-based
    standards through information and assistance.**

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-   Disseminate a self-assessment guide that supports continuous
    improvement in program quality and outcomes and addresses the unique
    issues of educating special education and language minority
    populations.

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-   Work with states and early childhood research and stakeholder groups
    to agree on model standards and guidelines for program quality that
    are consistent with the research-based recommendations of the
    National Research Council report *Eager to Learn: Educating Our
    Preschoolers*.

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-   Strengthen monitoring and assistance in early childhood education
    programs for children with disabilities, with a focus on
    implementing effective practices and identifying areas in need of
    improvement.

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-   **Improve collaboration and coordination within the Department of
    Education and with other** **Federal and state agencies.**

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-   Implement the recommendations of the Department of Education and the
    Department of Health and Human Services cross-agency taskforce for
    greater coordination of early childhood programs, services, and
    research.

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-   Strengthen coordination with state educational agencies in providing
    guidance and improving program implementation and reporting.

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-   Promote effective models that facilitate collaboration between the
    many programs at the local and state levels.

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-   Develop common performance indicators for the Departments of
    Education and Health and Human Services for early childhood
    programs.

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-   Supplement the Department of Health and Human Services' FACES study
    to provide measures for Title I and Even Start populations and to
    explore providing nationally representative information on school
    readiness.

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-   **Collaborate with the Department of Health and Human Services to
    improve the language, literacy, and reading competencies of young
    children in poverty by providing professional development programs
    that will increase early childhood educators\' knowledge and skills
    needed to build the foundations required for later reading success,
    as described in *Preventing Reading Difficulties* and *Eager to
    Learn. ***

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-   Support community-based partnerships among early childhood programs
    and organizations, public schools, and institutions of higher
    education that will offer early childhood teachers research-based,
    language- and literacy-focused professional development
    opportunities, particularly in high-need communities.

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-   Promote high-quality, research-based professional development
    activities through the enactment and implementation of an Early
    Childhood Professional Development program.

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-   **Provide leadership through the development and dissemination of
    research-based knowledge.**

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-   Develop a U.S. Department of Education research agenda that is
    consistent with the recommendations of the National Research Council
    report on research priorities in early childhood learning and
    development and coordinated with the National Institute of Child
    Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Science
    Foundation (NSF), and other Federal agencies.

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-   Support research and evaluation that use rigorous methodologies,
    especially studies employing random assignment strategies, in order
    to identify the characteristics of programs that produce beneficial
    results, especially in the areas of family literacy and involvement,
    and for programs focusing on language minority children and children
    with disabilities.

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-   Evaluate models of promising applications of technology to early
    childhood learning.

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-   Provide ready access to up-to-date information on early childhood
    education, including through the Web.

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-   Continue to support and widely disseminate the findings from the
    NCES Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.

## Objective 1B: Every child reads well and independently by the end of the third grade.

Reading is the foundation of all other skills essential for learning.
The 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports that
only 62 percent of fourth-graders read at the basic level or higher.
Although this shows some progress over the prior NAEP, especially for
students in the highest poverty schools, continued improvements are
essential.

The 1998 National Academy of Sciences report funded by the U.S.
Department of Education on *Preventing Reading Difficulties* and the
NICHD report *Teaching Children to* *Read* identify key strategies that
research has shown to be effective in overcoming children's reading
problems. However, far too many teachers of reading lack the fundamental
knowledge and training in research-based reading instruction that would
enable them to help children with reading difficulties.

####### Performance Indicators and Targets 

1.  By 2005, the percentage of all fourth-grade students who will meet
    basic levels in reading on the National Assessment of Educational
    Progress (NAEP) will increase to 70 percent, up from 62 in percent
    in 1998(about 300,000 children), and increasing percentages will
    achieve proficient levels.

2.  Increasing percentages of teachers of students in kindergarten
    through third grade in Title I schools will receive ongoing,
    intensive professional development to enable them to successfully
    use research-based strategies to effectively teach reading to
    diverse students, including those who experience difficulties in
    learning to read and those with disabilities.

##### 

Our Role

The Department of Education's resources are used to help states, local
school districts, and schools improve the teaching and learning of
reading. The primary areas of focus are high-poverty children in early
childhood programs; at-risk school children in K-12 schools serving
concentrations of low-income children; and special populations that
experience difficulties in reading, such as students with disabilities
and language minority students. The Education Department supports
reading instruction through many programs, including Title I, Even
Start, the Reading Excellence Program, the Class Size Reduction Program,
and the Comprehensive School Reform Development (CSRD) program, and
through other programs that serve special populations such as special
education, bilingual education, migrant education, and Indian Education.
These programs support activities that are critically important to
improving the quality of reading instruction including increasing
professional development opportunities, upgrading reading curriculum and
materials, reducing class sizes, providing additional instructional
time, and providing one-on-one assistance for children with reading
difficulties.

Through the America Reads Challenge the Department fosters community
involvement in reading. The Department also supports a major reading
research agenda building on the historic, Department-supported report:
*Preventing Reading Difficulties*, which was complemented by the NICHD
report on *Teaching Children to Read*.

There is a considerable amount of research-based information about how
to teach reading effectively, as demonstrated by the rigorous research
syntheses of the National Research Council and the National Institute
for Child Health and Human Development. The U.S. Department of
Education\'s major challenge for the next five years is to provide
support to states and districts to use this information in training
teachers to help students overcome reading difficulties.

##### Core Strategies 

-   **Provide major financial support to continuously improve in-class
    instruction for children with special needs in reading.**

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-   Monitor and evaluate Title I, Even Start, Reading Excellence,
    Special Education, Class Size Reduction, and Bilingual Education
    programs to continuously improve the reading instruction they
    support.

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-   Continue major expansion of after-school programs with an emphasis
    on extending learning time for reading through multiple strategies
    including reading tutors and encouraging reading through the arts.

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-   Strengthen the America Reads initiative, which supports Federal Work
    Study students who serve as reading tutors, through expanded
    outreach to institutions of higher education.

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-   Support smaller class sizes for early reading instruction through
    the Class Size Reduction Program and Title I.

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-   **Encourage states to integrate** **Federal and state resources to
    support a comprehensive reading strategy.**

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-   Provide states with technical assistance and information on
    effective reading practices and data collection systems.

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-   Disseminate widely information on the progress of states and
    communities in improving children\'s reading.

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-   **Equip teachers and administrators to provide effective reading
    instruction, emphasizing the findings of the National Research
    Council, National Reading Panel, and other evidence-based reports
    through high-quality preparation and ongoing professional growth
    opportunities.**

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-   Disseminate effective reading practices to support professional
    development through large-scale, Web-based professional development
    modules.

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-   Ensure, through guidance, technical assistance, and widespread
    dissemination of research findings, that Federally supported
    professional development meets standards of sustained, intensive,
    high-quality professional development for reading and language arts.

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-   Strengthen teacher preparation in scientifically based reading
    instruction through Title II of the Higher Education Act (HEA),
    including monitoring teachers\' performance nationally on state
    licensing exams.

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-   Meet the needs of limited English proficient (LEP), special
    education, and other at-risk populations, the America Reads Office,
    the Office of Bilingual Education, the Office of Special Education
    Programs, and others by developing instructional materials on basic
    knowledge needed by teachers and administrators who teach these
    children to read.

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-   **Promote parent and community involvement.**

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-   Encourage the involvement of private-sector organizations in
    supporting reading interventions through the America Reads Challenge
    and the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education and develop
    a range of reading materials with a pedagogical basis for community
    members to use.

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-   Provide material and resources that are accessible to the parents of
    limited English proficient students.

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-   Support parent involvement by providing technical assistance and
    effective reading materials. Parent Information Resource Centers
    provide support to states, districts, and schools to help them
    remove barriers to parent involvement in their children\'s
    education. The "Compact for Reading" and support for materials
    developed by the National Institute for Literacy give parents
    effective tools for reading with their children.

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-   **Support research and development.**

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-   Develop an analytic agenda to follow up on the research
    recommendations of the National Research Council*, Preventing
    Reading Difficulties* report, especially in the areas of effective
    interventions for primary-grade students with reading difficulties,
    appropriate use of instructional technology, and reading strategies
    for children for whom English is a second language.

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-   Identify sound strategies for building the knowledge and skills of
    reading teachers in effective methods of reading instruction.

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-   Support new research and translations of existing research that lead
    to the development of effective interventions for reaching and
    helping at-risk families, who may lack formal education or are
    non-English speaking, to create a language-rich home environment for
    their children.

## Objective 1C: Every eighth-grader masters challenging mathematics, including the foundations of algebra and geometry.

To be adequately prepared for postsecondary study and promising careers,
students need to acquire advanced knowledge in mathematics, science, and
technology. U.S. NAEP math scores continue to improve, more U.S.
students are taking higher level math courses, and U.S. fourth-graders
perform above the international average \[Third International
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1997, 1998\]. At the same time,
however, U.S. students perform significantly below the international
average by the end of secondary school. Student performance is affected
by many different factors. For example, although the curriculum in the
United States is broader than in other countries with high-performing
students, it lacks depth. Also, many mathematics teachers today lack the
appropriate credentials and licensure for the subjects they teach, and
many of those who are appropriately certified are under-prepared in
their discipline.

####### Performance Indicators and Targets

1.  *The percentage of all eighth grade students who reach the basic
    level or above in math on the NAEP will increase to 70% in 2005, as
    compared to 62% in 1996.*

2.  *The average score of American students in relation to the average
    score on a comparable set of the participating industrialized
    nations on international mathematics assessments will increase to
    the median score by 2005.*

3.  *The percent of eighth-grade students who demonstrate mastery on the
    NAEP subscales for algebra and geometry will continually increase.*

4.  *By 2005, the number of additional teachers entering the workforce
    with adequate preparation to teach challenging mathematics to
    students in secondary school will increase, as measured by a decline
    of 10 percentage points of out-of-field hires.*

5.  *The number of teachers of mathematics completing intensive
    professional development to enable them to teach challenging
    mathematics will increase 20 percent each year, as measured by
    successful participation in summer institutes and school-based
    inquiry groups.*

##### Our Role

The Department of Education's resources are available to states, local
school districts, and schools for the purpose of improving teaching,
upgrading curriculum, integrating technology and high-quality
instructional materials into the classroom, and motivating students to
better appreciate how mathematical concepts are applied in today\'s
global workplace. Overall coordination is accomplished through America
Counts, a Department-wide mathematics initiative. A variety of programs,
including, among others, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA) Title I and Title II programs and the Higher Education Act (HEA)
Title II program, provide support for improving the math achievement of
students. The Department also works with other Federal agencies,
including the National Science Foundation, to strengthen the impact of
Federal resources on mathematics education nationwide.

Concerns about accelerating the Nation's mathematics performance have
led to recommendations for improvements. For example, in September 2000,
the nonpartisan National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching
for the 21st Century (The John Glenn Commission) announced three goals:
(1) Establish an ongoing system to improve the quality of mathematics
and science teaching in grades K-12; (2) Increase significantly the
number of mathematics and science teachers and improve the quality of
their preparation; and, (3) Improve the working environment and make the
teaching profession more attractive for K-12 mathematics and science
teachers. To achieve those three goals 14 action strategies are detailed
in the Commission's report, *Before It's Too Late*. Implementing the
action strategies will require an investment of significant resources,
as well as new partnerships with states and business, expanded ongoing
learning opportunities for mathematics and science teachers, enhanced
collaboration within and between universities to increase the number and
quality of graduates in science and mathematics education, and the
promotion of research-based effective teaching methods which enhance
student achievement, especially the use of up-to-date technology for
instruction.

##### Core Strategies

-   **Implement the findings of the Glenn Commission.**

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-   In conjunction with other Federal agencies, provide funds to states
    to: conduct a comprehensive assessment of the needs of mathematics
    and science teachers, offer summer institutes and promote teacher
    inquiry groups, and implement comprehensive induction programs for
    new mathematics and science teachers.

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-   In conjunction with other Federal agencies, provide funds to: train
    15,000 teacher facilitators to work with the state-based summer
    institutes and school-based inquiry groups, develop an Internet
    Portal that promotes an ever-expanding knowledge base about
    effective mathematics and science teaching, establish criteria for
    identifying exemplary programs for the preparation of mathematics
    and science teachers, and create 15 Academies that prepare new
    mathematics teachers from among recent college graduates and people
    at midcareer.

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-   Administer a Federal loan forgiveness program to attract college
    students into science and mathematics teaching each year.

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-   Administer a scholarship program for high-achieving high school
    students to study mathematics and science education at designated
    universities.

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-   Develop a public campaign to recruit outstanding individuals into
    the mathematics and science teaching force.

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-   Provide funds for the Coordinating Council for Mathematics and
    Science Teaching to facilitate and broker the implementation of The
    Glenn Commission Action Strategies.

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-   **Provide Personal Attention and Additional Learning Time for
    Students.**

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-   Encourage postsecondary institutions to support mathematics tutoring
    by providing Federal funds to pay the wages of Work Study students
    who serve as mathematics tutors to elementary through ninth-grade
    students.

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-   **Equip teachers and administrators to provide challenging
    mathematics through high-quality preparation and ongoing
    professional development opportunities.**

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-   Strengthen teacher preparation in mathematics and science through
    Title II of the Higher Education Act, including monitoring
    performance on state licensing exams.

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-   Support teacher professional development to ensure effective
    implementation of programs for children with unique needs, children
    with disabilities, language minorities, and children gifted in
    mathematics.

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-   In partnership with the National Science Foundation, provide
    guidance and offer technical assistance, including through Federally
    supported laboratories and assistance centers, to state- and
    district-level teams on how to better use Federal, state and local
    resources to improve mathematics achievement.

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-   **Support high-quality research to inform best practices of
    mathematics teaching and learning.**

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-   Follow up on the recommendations of recent studies jointly funded by
    the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science
    Foundation, and undertaken by the National Academy of Sciences
    (NAS), on mathematics learning and on calculus, biology, chemistry,
    and physics Advanced Placement (AP) Programs.

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-   Continue to co-fund with NSF the Interagency Education Research
    Initiative, a \$30-million effort supporting research directed
    toward understanding how to make substantial improvements in early
    learning in mathematics and other areas.

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-   Provide international benchmarks on the performance of American
    students in mathematics and science and conduct internal and
    research studies of effective mathematics and science practices that
    the U.S. may adapt.

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-   **Build public understanding of the mathematics that today's
    students must master.**

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-   Support the joint U.S. Department of Education and National Science
    Foundation national public engagement campaign.

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-   Broaden communication methods to engage parents and communities in
    supporting mathematics learning, including the Partnership for
    Family Involvement and Compact for Mathematics.

Objective 1D: Middle schools and high schools help all students make
successful transitions to college and careers.

Objective 1D focuses on helping middle and high schools make changes in
teaching and learning so that all students can achieve to high academic
and technical standards and make successful transitions to college and
careers. There has been significant progress in getting more students of
all backgrounds to take the tougher academic courses, including rigorous
mathematics and sciences and advanced placement subjects. NAEP results
in reading and math for 13- and 17-year-olds are slightly higher today
than they were in the 1970s.

However, too many students are not acquiring the educational skills
needed to succeed in the knowledge-based economy of the 21^st^ century,
as evidenced by the high percentage of high school students who fail
challenging high stakes exit exams or who require remedial education in
college; the disproportionately high percentage of Hispanic youth who
fail to complete high school; international comparisons of math and
science achievement indicating that U.S. 12^th^ -graders score below
students in most other developed nations; and the great difficulty
reported by employers in recruiting recent high school graduates with
academic skills needed in technically demanding occupations. Although
college enrollment rates have increased, a significant gap in college
attendance and completion remains between white and other racial/ethnic
groups.

####### Performance Indicators and Targets

1.  By Fall 2005, 60 percent (up from 45 percent in 1998) of high school
    graduates, including vocational concentrators and students in
    high-poverty schools will complete core academic curriculum
    requirements.

2.  By 2005, 15 percent of high school students, including those
    attending high-poverty schools, will complete Advanced Placement and
    International Baccalaureate courses (up from 10.5 percent in 1999),

3.  By 2005, high school graduation rates will reverse their recent
    decline and increase 3 percent (up from 70.6 percent in 1999) both
    overall and for students from low-income families.

4.  By Fall 2005, 90 percent (up from 87 percent in 1996) of high school
    graduates, including vocational concentrators, students from
    low-income families, and students with disabilities will make a
    successful transition into postsecondary education or employment,
    including the military.

5.  An increasing percentage of high school students (from 41percent
    studying modern foreign languages in 1995) will study and
    demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language (bi-literacy).

Our Role

The Department provides support for middle and high school reform and
improvement both through vocational education programs, which
increasingly focus on both academic and technical skills preparation for
success in college or careers, and development and implementation of
reform models through the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration
(CSRD) program and through the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement (OERI) grant programs. The Department of Education also
supports postsecondary preparation programs such as TRIO\'s Upward Bound
and Talent Search, and Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for
Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). These programs use varying approaches
to provide low-income youth with academic support, mentoring, and
counseling to improve students' preparation for college. Other programs
are designed to facilitate successful transitions for students with
disabilities.

##### 

##### Core Strategies

-   **Commitment of Resources**

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-   Link major financial support (currently more than \$2 billion) to
    states, school districts and postsecondary institutions to providing
    research-based programs to better prepare young people, particularly
    those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, for college and
    careers.

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-   **Middle and High School Reform**

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-   Strengthen the Smaller Learning Communities program to help large,
    primarily high-poverty high schools. Current research suggests that
    small schools can reduce the disengagement and isolation that breeds
    violence, and enhance student attendance and achievement by creating
    a positive learning environment.

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-   Encourage states and districts to utilize basic Vocational
    Education, IDEA, and ESEA grant funds for secondary school reforms
    including research-based models such as High Schools That Work,
    career academies, and Tech-Prep.**\
    **

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-   **Improved Accountability Systems**

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-   Work with state agencies and postsecondary grantees to improve the
    quality, efficiency and effectiveness of their performance reporting
    and accountability systems, including the capacity to report results
    for special populations.

-   Analyze data on the participation levels of special populations and
    provide technical assistance or enforcement activities as needed to
    ensure access to higher education for those populations.

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-   Build new pilot projects to reduce grantee-reporting burden and
    improve the quality of performance information.

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-   Test the use of alternative data sources such as student financial
    aid applicant data files to better monitor the educational outcomes
    of TRIO program participants.

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-   Expand the Integrated Performance Benchmarking System to include
    Vocational Education; this experiment is intended to provide
    real-time information through \"data harvesting\" and eliminate
    duplicative reporting requirements from different programs.

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-   **Strengthen Fluency in a Second Language (bi-literacy)**

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-   Expand Federal support for second language learning---both for
    limited English proficient students and for English-speaking
    students learning a foreign language---an increasingly important
    skill for Americans to succeed within the global society of the
    21^st^ Century.

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-   Examine ways to use technology, including the Internet, as a way to
    support English and foreign- language instruction to help American
    children become truly fluent in more than one language.

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-   Support increasing numbers of dual immersion school programs.

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-   **Improving Links Between Secondary and Postsecondary Education**

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-   Through the Secretary\'s Commission on the High School Senior Year,
    headed by Governor Paul Patton, issue recommendations in 2001 on
    ways to improve high schools and prepare students for their
    transition to postsecondary education.

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-   Work with states and postsecondary coordinating boards to better
    align high school graduation standards and assessments with skills
    needed to succeed in postsecondary education. Expectations for what
    students should know and be able to do when they leave high school
    differ from expectations for students entering postsecondary
    education. This results in conflicting standards for students, high
    levels of college remediation and low college completion rates.

-   Support education programs that combine at least two years of high
    school and two years of college to better prepare students with the
    academic and technical skills to pursue careers in \"high tech\"
    fields.

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-   Expand the Education Department's outreach campaign to inform middle
    and high school students and their families about the academic
    requirements needed to attend a postsecondary education, costs of
    attendance, and availability of financial aid.

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-   **Strengthen Early Intervention Programs**

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-   Work with states and postsecondary governing boards to coordinate
    and strengthen programs such as GEAR UP, TRIO\'s Upward Bound and
    Talent Search Programs, Community Technology Centers, and 21^st^
    Century Community Learning Centers to increase the participation and
    success of traditionally underserved youth.

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-   **Strengthen** **Transition Services for Students With
    Disabilities**

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-   Identify and disseminate information describing effective practices,
    model cooperative

agreements, and policies regarding school-to-work programs and
transition services for students

with disabilities, including those operated by Tribal Vocational
Rehabilitation agencies.

-   Focus Federal monitoring activities on transition activities that
    improve results for youth with disabilities by examining states\'
    monitoring and technical assistance practices around transition
    services. A review of statements of needed transition services and
    the process for determining needed transition services will be a
    major focus of record reviews and interviews with district
    personnel. Also, as part of Federal monitoring, identify promising
    practices and post them on the National Monitoring and Promising
    Practices Web site.

Goal 1. External Factors and Management Challenges

External Factor: Curriculum and pedagogy are primarily state and local
decisions.

**Response:** While the Federal government has no direct control over
curriculum, it provides support to allow states and communities to focus
on and improve curriculum adequacy. For example, Federally supported
research on best pedagogical practices, such as the National Research
Council report on *Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children*,
has been extraordinarily influential in focusing attention on how much
is known about helping children learn to read. Similar reports are
forthcoming in early childhood education and mathematics. The Education
Department is actively disseminating this information through
conferences, Internet sites, and technical assistance mechanisms such as
the Comprehensive Assistance Centers and Regional Education
Laboratories. States, districts, and schools need information that will
help them adopt good education practices, understand the evidence, and
support their efforts to change.

External Factor: Teachers often have inadequate qualifications and
knowledge, especially in programs serving at-risk students.

**Response:** Inadequate teacher and principal qualifications and lack
of knowledge of fundamental pedagogy and instructional content can be
significant barriers to effective reforms. Staff weaknesses are
particularly severe for early childhood projects, which typically lack
formal qualification standards and suffer from low pay. This situation
does not have to be accepted. Other nations with internationally
recognized preschool programs, including France and Italy, generally
have much better trained preschool teachers. The National Research
Council report, *Eager to Learn*, calls for higher standards in early
childhood education.\
\
New higher education legislation is strengthening preservice education
and requiring new reporting on student pass rates on state licensing
exams. ESEA is supporting stronger alignment of entry teacher
qualifications and professional development with state content
standards. The Department's proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act would substantially expand and strengthen
professional development and teacher quality at all levels from
preschool through grade 12.

External Factor: Language minority and special-need students pose
special challenges.

**Response:** Educating language minority students poses special
challenges, including the lack of availability of trained and certified
bilingual education and ESL teachers and appropriate teaching materials,
as well as the varying educational attainment level of many students.
Although no simple solutions exist, a range of strategies can help
address these special needs. The Department is ensuring inclusion of
language minority students in state assessments so that their special
needs are recognized and addressed. Internationally, the Department is
working with Mexico, Spain, and other countries on exchanges of teachers
and developing effective practices for educating Hispanic students in
the United States. Similar efforts are underway to improve instruction,
assessment, and learning for Asian English language learners under the
auspices of the President's Asian American and Pacific Islander
Initiative. The Department's major K-12 interventions, including Title
I, target substantial resources to support the educational opportunities
of language minority students. The Department is also supporting
increased translation of information and education materials into
non-English languages, particularly Spanish, because of the large
Spanish-speaking community. The Department has worked with the
California Department of Education on the development of a Spanish
language version of its Compact for Reading, and California will be
training over 20,000 teachers in its use. The Internet has the potential
also to provide real-time, individualized access to ESL training and
language courses, and exploratory work is underway to examine the best
uses of this potentially powerful new medium. In addition, the new small
schools initiative can particularly address the need for smaller high
schools and the special attention that language minority youth need to
reduce extremely high school dropout rates.

The focus on high standards for all students has focused education on
attaining higher quality outcomes for students with learning and
physical disabilities in addition to ensuring their access to
educational opportunities. Curricula and instruction are being geared
towards the post-school outcomes that students with disabilities achieve
by the time they graduate from high school. Higher standards are
attained through access to the general education curriculum, higher
teacher and parental expectations, and inclusion of students with
disabilities in large-scale assessments with appropriate accommodations.
Students with disabilities continue to have higher levels of high school
dropout rates and higher unemployment rates than their peers without
disabilities. Challenges are exacerbated by extreme shortages of
qualified special education teachers, particularly in urban and
high-poverty areas.

External Factor: Parents are critical to their children's success in
school, but may not realize their importance or adequately encourage
their children's learning.

**Response:** Parents want the best for their children, but many need
help to act on that goal. The Department is helping parents use research
knowledge effectively to increase their children's learning. The America
Reads initiative provides parents with videos and home-learning
materials. The Department's Partnership for Family Involvement is able
to enlist its 6,000 family, school, employer and religious organizations
to work within communities to involve families. The Title I parent
involvement provisions require joint school-family compacts in all Title
I schools and are supported by the Department's research-based compact
for reading materials.

## Goal 1. Strengthening Coordination

The Department of Education recognizes that, in addition to its
oversight of the many Department programs described above, assistance
and support from other Federal agencies is also important. We work with
other agencies in the following major activities:

-   **Interagency research collaboration and sharing of research-based**
    **knowledge:** The Department has been involved in the interagency
    Early Childhood Research Working Group convened by the National
    Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education to share
    research-based information about young children and their families
    and to provide opportunities for interagency research collaboration.
    The Education Department has used the findings from this exchange,
    such as the information provided by the National Institute of Child
    Health and Human Development (NICHD) on language and literacy
    development, to improve programs across Federal departments. This
    exchange has facilitated collaboration by making Federal legislation
    among programs compatible and encouraging interagency agreements at
    the state level. It has also helped the Education Department and its
    partner agencies examine how collaborative efforts are evolving at
    the state and local levels. The Education Department also
    coordinates return-to-work research with the Department of Labor and
    the Social Security Administration.

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-   **HHS-ED Joint task forces on early childhood education:** The
    Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human
    Services have formed a joint task force to increase collaboration
    and coordination of services to children in early childhood. As part
    of this initiative, the two agencies will facilitate collaboration
    of HHS- and ED-funded activities for reading and early childhood
    development. The Department of Health and Human Services and the
    Department of Education will jointly disseminate reading
    publications on early childhood and will coordinate GPRA reporting.

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-   **Interagency training:** The Education Department collaborates with
    the U.S. Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to improve extended
    learning programs in reading. The Education Department will continue
    to help train Army staff directors to use America Reads Challenge
    Read\*Write\*Now! interventions and materials in the Army's extended
    learning programs. The Department of Education will work with the
    Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs schools to
    encourage extended learning in reading programs that support the
    America Reads Challenge.

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-   **Children of families with special needs:** The Education
    Department coordinates efforts with the Departments of Health and
    Human Services and Labor to ensure that children from families
    moving from welfare to work and others with special needs (e.g.,
    migratory workers and homeless families) receive opportunities to
    participate fully in educational activities. Through Impact Aid, the
    Education Department works with the Defense Department to provide
    assistance to schools educating children in military families.

-   **Hispanic Education Action Plan:** The Education Department's
    efforts to improve educational attainment and outcomes for Latino
    students are demonstrated through the President's Hispanic Education
    Action plan. As the lead agency in this effort, the Education
    Department has committed to improve the provision of services to
    Latino and limited-English proficient students though increasing
    accountability, ensuring inclusion of this population in state
    assessments, and expanding resources such as technical assistance to
    reach under-served communities.

-   **President's Asian American and Pacific Islander Initiative:** The
    Education Department is committed to improve the provision of
    services to Asian and Pacific Islander students through increasing
    accountability, ensuring inclusion of this population in state
    assessments, and expanding resources such as technical assistance to
    reach under-served communities.

-   **White House Indian Education Initiative**. The Education
    Department coordinates across agencies to strengthen programs and
    provide integrated and comprehensive services to improve school
    services and student outcomes for Indian students.

-   **Juvenile justice:** Coordinate with the Department of Justice in
    supporting and disseminating improved state-level strategies for the
    collection, analysis, and use of data regarding youth who are placed
    in juvenile facilities.

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-   **Improving services for children and young adults with
    disabilities:** Continue to collaborate with the Public Health
    Service in providing technical assistance and disseminating
    information to improve mental health service delivery in schools. In
    addition, the Department of Education and the Social Security
    Administration co-chair conferences focusing on enhancing work
    opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Goal 1. Evaluation Highlights

Highlights of evaluations conducted in order to assess our progress
toward meeting the four major objectives in Goal 1.

# **Objective 1A: All children enter school ready to learn through receiving high quality and developmentally appropriate preschool experiences.**

*National Evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy Program:* This
study will evaluate the performance and impact of Even Start projects
through a random assignment study of 20 grantees and data on services
and performance from all Even Start Projects.

*Development of Coordinated Title I, Even Start, and Head Start program
performance and information system:* This study will design a program
performance and information system for Title I and Even Start early
childhood activities that is based on the FACES longitudinal survey
instrumentation used by Head Start. This instrumentation will provide
key outcome, program quality, and home indicators for these programs
starting with Fall 2001 school year.

*Study of Even Start State Implementation:* This study will examine the
quality and effectiveness of Even Start and Title I preschool projects
on children's literacy. The study will be coordinated with HHS. The
Education Department will administer the Family and Child Experiences
Survey (FACES) used by HHS for their Program Performance Measures
Initiative.

### Objective 1B: Every child reads well and independently by the end of the third grade.

#### Objective 1C:Every eighth-grader acquires challenging mathematics including the foundations of algebra and geometry.

*Title I State Performance Report:* This study will collect and analyze
annual state data on student achievement, Title I participation, and
staffing.

*Longitudinal Evaluation of School Change and Performance:* This study
examines the impact of standards-based reform on student achievement in
high-poverty elementary schools. The study will also look at the impact
of reform policies on accountability and instructional practices in
reading and mathematics.

*REA School Implementation and Impact* *Evaluation* is a longitudinal
study to examine the quality of implementation of REA, the extent to
which schools that participate in REA are improving the quality of
reading instruction and, the impact of REA on student outcomes. This
study will collect both survey data on a nationally representative
sample of REA schools and more in-depth qualitative and impact data on a
subsample of 75 schools.

*Effects of REA Model on Children's Reading Growth* is a longitudinal,
experimental evaluation of a cohort of kindergartners in
well-implemented REA schools compared to a cohort in similar Title I
schools to determine the impact of the REA model on student achievement.
The study is designed to examine the impact on disadvantaged students
overall, and on the most disadvantaged students, who typically have flat
growth curves.

*Longitudinal Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Comprehensive School
Reform Models and Title I School-wide Interventions:* This evaluation
will examine the impact of promising school-wide educational
interventions on student achievement in high poverty schools. The study
will include a sample of 75 high-poverty, Title I elementary schools
with schoolwide programs, including schools implementing instructionally
focused models funded through the Comprehensive School Reform
Demonstration Program (CSRD).

*National Assessment of Title I: New Data and Findings:* This report
will provide an update of the report to Congress submitted in 1999. New
data on student achievement for the Title I target population from NAEP
and state assessments will be included. New findings on the impact of
standards-based reform on student achievement in high-poverty schools
will also be added.

### Objective 1D: Middle schools and high schools help all students make successful transitions to college and careers.

*Study of Academic Achievement for Secondary Schools Students* examines
strategies for raising the academic achievement of secondary schools
students and examines the feasibility of rigorous impact studies of
promising instructional practices in reading and mathematics for
secondary school learners.

*Evaluation of Upward Bound Program:* Upward Bound is designed to
complement student financial aid by providing economically disadvantaged
high school students with supplemental services (counseling, tutoring,
special instruction, etc). Using an experimental longitudinal design,
this study follows a sample of 3000 students to assess the effects of
TRIO's Upward Bound program on college access and performance of
disadvantaged secondary school student*s.*

*Evaluation of Talent Search Program:* Using existing state and federal
data, this study examines the impact of Talent Search participation on
students\' college enrollment and access to student financial aid.

*Evaluation of Gear-Up Program:* Gaining Early Awareness Readiness for
Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) is a middle and high school
intervention aimed at increasing the enrollment rate of disadvantaged
students in postsecondary education. The evaluation follows a sample of
project participants and matched non-participants beginning in the
seventh grade to assess the effects implementing GEAR-UP on secondary
and postsecondary educational outcomes.

*Evaluation of High Schools That Work, Tech-Prep, Career Academies and
Youth Apprenticeship:* Using existing educational and unemployment
insurance data from three states, this study examines the impact of
these highly regarded high school programs on students\' academic
course-taking, postsecondary enrollment and persistence, and initial
earnings.

*Evaluation of School-to-Work Implementation:* School-to-Work, or
school-to- careers as it is often called, attempts to add meaningful
context from the world of work to better engage the interest and
intellect of students and help them learn more effectively. The
School-to-Work Opportunities Act sunsets in 2001.

Through case studies, surveys of local partnerships and students, the
study collects information on a wide range of issues including student
access and participation in school-to-work, progress in establishing
school-to-work systems, and changes in student outcomes.