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

                       **********************                        TESTIMONY PREPARED FOR                           RICHARD W. RILEY                      U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION                      ***************************        BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES             SUBCOMMITEE ON EDUCATION, ARTS AND HUMANITIES                        Friday, October 7, 1994         "PROMISING PRACTICES: PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOLS"        *****************************************************

Let me also say, Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for the leadership that you and Senator Jeffords and this subcommittee have provided. Together, you have championed the cause of America's children. There is no work more important for any of us -- in public policy or in private life.

I am pleased to be joined today by Sue Ferguson, Chair of the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE). One month ago, I announced the formation of a broad-based partnership in which NCPIE, the Education Department, and other organizations would work together to promote greater family involvement in learning.

Mr. Chairman, I have been heartened by the response to the initiative we launched. Today the Partnership for Family Involvement in Learning is comprised not only of the Department of Education and the 46 members of NCPIE, but of 30 other organizations as well, representing parents, schools, religious organizations, community-based groups, and business. This is an issue on which we have found common ground--and on which a broad consensus for educational improvement and community renewal can be constructed.

Our partnership proceeds from a simple yet powerful premise: The American family is the rock on which a solid education can and must be built. The importance of family involvement in learning is made clear in a report I released last month, entitled "Strong Families, Strong Schools." I have witnessed that basic principle at work in every part of our Country. I have seen two-parent families, single parents, step-parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles providing strong family support for their children's learning.

Mr. Chairman, this Congress has built a splendid record in the area of education. As the WASHINGTON POST said yesterday, the education initiatives passed by this Congress represent "a major area of accomplishment that has often been ignored." This record encompasses the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, which strengthens local efforts to help schools meet high academic and occupational standards. That Act includes incentives to make our schools safer and to make cutting-edge research more teacher-friendly. The legislative record also includes the School-to-Work Opportunities Act; streamlining the college financial aid system; national service legislation; and, this week, the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. These initiatives create exciting opportunities for communities and states to seriously address educational achievement and economic advancement. Through constructive bipartisan efforts, we now have in place, as the Committee for Economic Development said in its recent report, PUTTING LEARNING FIRST, "a new platform from which to promote academic excellence," one involving people in every state, every community, and every school in America.

Thirty years of research tells us that the starting point of American education is parent expectations and parental involvement with their children's education. This consistent finding applies to every family regardless of the parents' station in life, their income, or their educational background. A child who grows up reading for fun is a child who is on the road to success when it comes to learning. But for America to read together, something has to give. The teenager who is perpetually glued to the tube is well on the way to having a very dull mind and a very dull -- and perhaps risky -- future. Report after report tells us that reading scores decline at all grade levels when young people go into the "red zone" of danger and watch more than six hours of television on a weekday. Even two hours of television a night puts children in the "yellow zone" -- a warning to be careful.

Mr. Chairman, the partnership we have formed is designed to establish a supportive environment for family involvement. We will identify and publicize outstanding examples of family involvement around the nation, just as your subcommittee is doing today. We will provide useful information to parents, to students, to businesses, and to community groups. And we will set an example by encouraging federal employees to participate in their children's learning.

At the Department of Education, we are trying to practice what we promote. We allow our employees to have flexible schedules so that they can spend more time at home when their children are not in school, or attend events at their children's schools. For employees who volunteer in local schools, the Department matches leave time, up to four hours per pay period.

As I travel around the country, I meet many parents who are trying hard to do the right thing by their children. They are being responsible, juggling jobs, trying to squeeze more hours into the day. They are worrying about their children's safety and doing all they can to keep their families together. The most important single change we need for American education is to find new ways to help parents slow down their lives. The mismatch in how American institutions -- from schools to businesses--carve out time in the day-to-day life of the American family is, to my mind, a serious impediment affecting how our young people are growing up.

The best business leaders recognize that the early investment families make on behalf of their children leads to the promise of a skilled and educated workforce in the future. This is why many business leaders have been in the forefront of improving education for many years now. Some of these businesses are already developing new ways that America's "time" can be used to help families and help the learning process.

We must see the value in job-sharing, flextime, and release time for families -- to give attention to the children. Schools at the plant site, day care in the office, parents working at home without stigma or financial loss -- whatever it takes -- we need to use all of our ingenuity to find new ways to connect families to their children in these hectic times.

As part of our effort to increase family involvement in education, I have suggested seven good practices that may be helpful to parents and other family members. The WASHINGTON POST called it the "Riley Basics," and they really are basic homework for parents.

First, take a time inventory to find the extra time so the family can learn together. Commit to learning something with your children.

Second, commit yourself to high standards and set high expectations for your children -- challenge them in every possible way to reach their full potential.

Third, limit television viewing on a school night to a maximum of two hours, even if that means that the remote control may have to disappear on occasion.

Fourth, read together. It is the starting point of all learning.

Fifth, make sure your children take the tough courses at school and schedule daily time to check homework.

Sixth, make sure your child goes to school every day and support community efforts to keep children safe and off the street late at night.

And seventh, set a good example and talk directly to your children, especially your teenagers, about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and the values that you want your children to have. Listen to what your children have to say. Such personal talks, however uncomfortable they make you feel, may save their lives.

Let me now turn briefly to how schools can encourage family involvement.

The disconnection between educators and parents requires our attention. Often, parents and educators talk past one another. Many parents feel that their right to be involved in school policy -- to be full participants in the learning process -- is ignored, frustrated, and sometimes even denied. They do not feel valued, and they sometimes find education jargon to be a putdown.

Yet I know there are countless schools and educators who have reached out to families and have been rewarded with greater family involvement and higher student achievement. I hope educators everywhere will make family members feel welcome; listen with an open ear; and reach out to parents as partners. Educators can creatively use new technology -- from voice mail, to homework hotlines, to educational CD-ROM programs that are now on the market -- and even the old telephone -- to get parents more involved in the learning process.

Families, schools, businesses, educators, and communities all have an essential role to play if all our children are to learn to high standards in safe, disciplined environments. Working together, we can reinforce the central role of the family in education -- and bring out the best in every child.

Thank you.