II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1118

To establish an additional National Education Goal relating to parental participation in both the formal and informal education of their children,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 16 (legislative day, JUNE 15), 1993

Mr. HATFIELD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To establish an additional National Education Goal relating

to parental participation in both the formal and informal

education of their children, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION l. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Education

5 Goal for Parental Participation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) parents and families are the child’s first

2 and primary teacher and a continuing influence

3 throughout the school years;

4 (2) children whose parents are involved in the

5 educational process at home and at school dem6 onstrate higher academic achievement levels than do

7 children who have similar aptitude and family back8 grounds and who have parents who are not involved;

9 (3) student behavior and achievement improves

10 in schools that establish strong communication with

11 parents and institute programs that utilize the

12 talents of parents in policy formation and

13 implementation;

14 (4) recent surveys have shown that while more

15 parents are becoming involved in some way with

16 their child’s education, far too many parents are

17 faced with institutional barriers to involvement;

18 (5) effective parental involvement programs

19 that are already in place should be disseminated as

20 models to school districts around the country;

21 (6) the Federal Government has established ex22 cellent opportunities for parents to become involved

23 in Head Start programs, programs for children who

24 are disabled, and programs for children under chap-
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1 ter 1 of title I of the Elementary and Secondary

2 Education Act of 1965;

3 (7) such opportunities need to be provided in

4 other preschool, elementary and secondary pro5 grams;

6 (8) there is limited research and professional

7 development opportunity for teachers and adminis8 trators in implementing parent involvement pro9 grams; and

10 (9) as a condition that is fundamental to the

11 successful achievement of the first six National Edu12 cation Goals, parental involvement should be recog13 nized as a Goal in itself.

14 SEC. 3. NEW EDUCATION GOAL.

15 (a) GOAL.—It shall be established by the National

16 Education Goals Panel as a National Education Goal, that

17 by the year 2000, every school and home will engage in

18 partnerships that will increase parental involvement and

19 participation in promoting the social, emotional and aca20 demic growth of children.

21 (b) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives of the Goal estab22 lished under subsection (a) are that—

23 (1) every State will develop policies to assist

24 local schools and school districts to establish pro25 grams for increasing partnerships that respond to
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1 the varying needs of parents and the home, includ2 ing parents of children who are disadvantaged, bilin3 gual or disabled;

4 (2) every school will actively engage parents

5 and families in a partnership which supports the

6 academic work of children at home and shared edu7 cational decision-making at school;

8 (3) every home will be responsible for creating

9 an environment of respect for education, providing

10 the physical and emotional support needed for learn11 ing; and

12 (4) parents and families will help to ensure that

13 schools are adequately supported and will hold

14 schools and teachers to high standards of account15 ability.

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