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

President Clinton's Call to Action for American Education in the 21st Century

Technological Literacy

Just as 100 years ago the nation struggled with the transition from an agrarian to an industrial economy, today we confront the transition from an industrial to a global, technological economy. Technology--the World Wide Web, computer-aided design, word processing, data processing, electronic transfers--has become an engine of our economic growth and has fundamentally changed the ways we learn, how we do business, and the skills students in America need to flourish in the world of work. States, communities, business, families and teachers need to ensure that by the dawn of the next century every classroom in America is connected to the information superhighway with high-quality computers, creative software, and well-trained teachers.

Today, technological literacy--computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity and performance--is a new basic that our students must master. Preparing our children for a lifetime of computer use is now just as essential as teaching them to read and write and do math. Every major U.S. industry has begun to rely heavily on computers and telecommunications to do its work.

Technology also enriches education. Children with access to computers and trained teachers can learn faster and learn better. In some cases, scores on standardized tests of basic skills for children taught with computers rise by 10 to 15 percent compared to the scores of those taught using conventional instruction. With computers, students can learn at their own pace and practice as much as they need to. For students with disabilities, technology such as word processing and speech recognition can give them the tools they need to participate fully in challenging academic courses. Children master basic skills in 30 percent less time than would normally have been the case. Using technology, quality software and good teachers, students can also learn differently. For example, instead of reading about the human circulatory system in a book and seeing textbook pictures, students can use technology to see blood moving through veins and arteries, watch the process of oxygen entering the bloodstream, and experiment to understand the effects of cholesterol on blood flow, gaining a better understanding of these processes.

Despite the importance and promise of technology, America's schools are not yet prepared for the technological era. About half of all teachers have little or no experience at all with technology in the classroom. Only 4 percent of schools have a computer for every five students--a ratio that allows regular use by each student. Only 9 percent of classrooms have connections to the Internet.

The goal we have presented cannot be set and cannot be achieved unless we all work together. It can be met only with communities, businesses, governments, teachers, parents and students all joining together--in a sense, a high-tech barn raising.

Technology in Support of Reform
A partnership between the Union City, N.J. school district and Atlantic Bell turned around a failing middle school. Christopher Columbus Middle School demonstrates how technology can improve student performance. Every classroom has several computers and students and teachers have computers at home so that they -- and parents -- can communicate with each other, get assignments and do homework. As a result of intensive use of technology, reading, math and writing scores are up significantly. Moreover, the school, which had a high absenteeism rate, now has the best attendance record in the district.

Beginning in 1995, President Clinton challenged the nation's parents, teachers, government, community, and business leaders to work together to ensure that all children in America are technologically literate by the dawn of the 21st century--equipped with the communication, math, science, and critical thinking skills essential for the 21st-century economy. He established the four pillars of his technology literacy agenda:

Connect every school and classroom in America to the information superhighway;
Provide access to modern computers for all teachers and students;
Develop effective and engaging software and on-line learning resources as an integral part of the school curriculum; and
Provide all teachers the training and support they need to help students learn through computers and the information superhighway.

The response to the President's challenge was immediate and came from all parts of the American community. While much remains to be done, an enormous amount has already been accomplished and steady progress continues to be made.

The Private Sector Response. CEOs of some of the nation's largest and most innovative technology and telecommunications companies have responded to the President's challenge by contributing resources and energy to work in partnership with schools and communities in meeting all four of the President's goals.

In October, the President announced the U.S. Tech Corps, a volunteer organization which enables high-tech workers from the private sector to assist teachers and schools to put the information age at the fingertips of their students.

America's Technology Literacy Challenge. In his 1996 State of the Union Address, President Clinton asked Congress to fund a $2 billion, five-year Technology Literacy Challenge designed to catalyze state, local, and private sector partnerships in each state to achieve the four educational technology goals and to spur substantial additional private, state and local investment in education technology. Congress supported the President's request for first-year funding and appropriated $200 million for grants to states to launch this challenge. States will develop a strategy for using the funds to achieve the President's four goals and for ensuring that no students--especially students in low-income areas and in districts with the greatest need for technology--are left behind. The Challenge builds on the Secretary of Education's national plan, Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century, Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge. The President's FY 1998 budget calls for more than double funding to $425 million.

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program is a national and international hands-on environmental science and educational program that officially started on Earth Day 1995. GLOBE uses scientific instruments and state-of-the-art technology to make science relevant to today's K-12 students. Through GLOBE, students conduct an array of measurements and observations at their schools and share their data via the Internet with other students and scientists around the world to detail an environmental picture of the globe. Vice President Al Gore articulated his vision of the GLOBE program in his book, Earth in Balance. He proposed a program "involving as many countries as possible that will use school teachers and their students to monitor the entire earth..."

The Technology Innovation Challenge Grants. This component of the technology literacy challenge invites school systems, colleges, universities, and private businesses to form partnerships to develop creative new ways to use technology for learning. These local innovation grants focus on integrating innovative learning technologies to improve teaching and learning. Each federal dollar is matched by more than 3 to 1 by local and private funds. The 19 consortia funded in FY95 out of 500 proposals are reaching schools with 1.2 million students and involve partnerships with businesses, museums, libraries, and parks in school systems around the nation. An additional 24 partnerships funded in FY96 will allow 24 school districts to work in partnership with a total of 153 other school districts and 130 businesses in 34 states. Another $57 million will be available for the program in FY97 to support a third round of grants and FY98 will call for $75 million--a more than 30 percent increase.

Universal and Affordable Access to Advanced Telecommunications. President Clinton signed into law the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which ensures that all U.S. schools, libraries, hospitals, and clinics have affordable access to advanced telecommunications services. The President called on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) regulators to ensure that every school and library has access to the information superhighway and, in November 1996, the Federal/State Joint Board on Universal Service unanimously recommended that schools and libraries receive discounts for telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections. If approved by the FCC, the average discount would be about 60 percent, and one-third of all schools and libraries will receive discounts of 80 to 90 percent. Without these discounts, many schools will be cut off from the enormous potential of the information superhighway--putting their students and communities at a severe competitive disadvantage in the informational marketplace of information, ideas and commerce.

NetDays. The President and Vice President launched a historic effort to mobilize communities of volunteers to connect classrooms to the Internet. As a result, on March 9, 1996, the President and Vice President and more than 20,000 volunteers laid six million feet of cable connecting thousands of California schools with the technology needed to link classrooms, libraries, and laboratories to the information superhighway. This effort sparked an enormous response around the nation and in the fall of 1996 over 40 states organized and participated in NetDays, wiring over 25,000 schools, using over 250,000 volunteers. More NetDays are scheduled for this year.

21st Century Teachers. The new technology cannot make much of an impact on learning unless teachers help find creative new ways to exploit its power and make the new tools an integral part of their teaching. The teachers, and the organizations that support teachers, all stepped forward earlier this year to work together to meet the President's challenge. The National School Boards Association, the National PTA, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and many other business and professional organizations have launched this initiative to recruit thousands of teacher volunteers who will improve their own understanding of how to use education technology and share their expertise with at least five of their peers during the coming school year.

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[ Lifelong Learning ]

Last Updated -- Feb. 13, 1997, (pjk)