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

   FOR RELEASE                     Contact: Office of Public Affairs    September 8, 1995                                  (202) 401-3026

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley has invited caring adults nationwide to rally around their local schools and make a commitment to improving schools and helping them become safe places of learning throughout the year.

Across the country, thousands of Americans -- athletes and astronauts, elected officials, business leaders and ordinary citizens -- are answering this call to support their local schools and colleges and to help students get on the right course. It's all part of America Goes Back to School: A Place for Families and the Community, a new initiative of the Family Involvement Partnership for Learning and the U.S. Department of Education.

America Goes Back to School urges communities to focus on six key areas of improvement and asks all Americans to: help children learn the basics and core academic subjects; create safe schools that teach American values; make colleges more accessible; put technology into classrooms; raise standards of achievement and discipline; and prepare students for the world of work and adulthood.

Sesame Street's Celina (actress and dance instructor Annette Claud) and the Cookie Monster will visit P.S. 166 in Queens, N.Y., Sept. 14 where they will tell stories to kindergarten and first grade children and hold a dance/movement session. Sesame Street is a production of the Children's Television Workshop.

Spiderman, his creator Stan Lee and artist John S. Romita, will visit Paul Ecke Elementary School in San Dieguito School District, Encinitas, Calif., on Sept.13, to encourage children to read more and to begin an effort to create more educationally valuable comic books.

In Los Angeles, actress Barbara Bain will join Joe Stiglitz, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, at Grape Street School in Watts on Sept. 14 to read to children who participate in a Reading PALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools) program under "L.A.'s Best" After School Enrichment Program. The children will also receive school supplies.

In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo and the National Air and Space Museum have formed partnerships with area schools and parents to help teachers involve parents in education and provide learning materials related to Smithsonian offerings to schools in and around the nation's capital. One such partnership, the Learning is a Family Experience (LIFE) program, begins Sept. 9 when students will visit the museum with their families and teachers as a follow-up to classroom instruction. The program aims to help families learn together.

In New York City, the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences will bring music industry artists and producers, including Pamela Marcello, vice president for video promotions, Virgin Records, to the city's Hard Rock Cafe Sept. 12 to hold an interactive panel discussion with 150 high school students about careers in the music industry and the making of a music video.

U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor will give a back-to- school lecture on world economy and trade Sept.12 to Arlington, Va.'s Wakefield High School government students. Later this month, 30,000 students will be able to hear the lecture on CNN Newsroom's "World View," a 30-minute segment of educational programming for classroom use.

"Now, more than ever," Sec. Riley said, "it is time for families and communities to reconnect with their local schools, commit themselves to fostering higher standards of learning, and work together to give our students the foundation they need to make the most of their lives."

America Goes Back to School: A Place for Families and the Community is sponsored by the Family Involvement Partnership for Learning, a coalition of more than 150 family, community, religious and education organizations, including the U.S. Department of Education. The partnership is dedicated to supporting family involvement in children's learning through family-school-community partnerships, including many family- friendly businesses.

Thirty years of research show that when family and community members are directly involved in education, children achieve better grades and higher test scores, have higher graduation rates, are more likely to enroll in higher education, and are better behaved.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Detailed event schedules are available from the public affairs offices of the respective officials.