ED REVIEW

January 4, 2002

...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to the Intergovernmental and Corporate community

FY 2002 APPROPRIATIONS

On December 20, Congress finalized a $6.7 billion (or 17 percent) funding increase for education, as part of the FY 2002 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. Specifically, the bill provides $29.6 billion for the President's elementary and secondary education initiatives authorized in the No Child Left Behind Act, including (1) $10.35 billion to help disadvantaged children achieve the same high academic standards (Title I), (2) $2.85 billion to consolidate and streamline existing professional development programs, (3) $975 million to eliminate the reading deficit through scientific, research-based programs (Reading First), (4) $387 million to cover the cost of developing annual state assessments, and (5) $665 million in recognition of the growing number of limited English proficient children -- to focus on teaching English and expediting the transition into regular classrooms. Moreover, the bill delivers:

• $7.5 billion (or $1.2 billion more than last year) for special education grants (IDEA);
• $1.143 billion for Impact Aid;
• $1 billion for afterschool programs (21st Century Community Learning Centers);
• a $250 Pell grant increase, bringing the maximum award for student aid to $4,000;
• a $72 million increase for TRIO; and
• $6.538 billion for Head Start, to ensure quality improvements and training elements are fully implemented.

The Department's Budget Office has released a table that shows FY 2000, 2001, and 2002 appropriations, alongside the President's FY 2002 budget request. The office is also dissecting the appropriations bill by program and by state. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/budnews.html. (Note: The President is expected to sign the bill into law next week.)

 SCHOOL-LEVEL ASSESSMENT DATABASE

Assessment scores for approximately 80,000 public schools throughout the country are now available on CD-ROM from the Department's Planning and Evaluation Service (PES). This database was developed by the American Institutes for Research and was utilized by Education Trust, profiled last issue, to identify over 4,500 high-poverty and/or high-minority schools nationwide that scored in the top one-third of all schools in their states. All states in the database have data for the 1999-2000 school year except Hawaii and Nevada. In addition, the schools are merged with valuable information from the Common Core of Data, including student and minority enrollment and free and reduced-price lunch eligibility. Eventually, PES plans to post this information online for public consumption. FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO ORDER THE CD-ROM, PLEASE CONTACT Meredith Miller at (202) 401-8368 or Meredith.Miller@ed.gov.

 EXPERT PANELS

The Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994 directed the Assistant Secretary of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) to establish "panels of appropriate, qualified experts and practitioners" to evaluate educational programs and recommend to the Secretary of Education those programs that should be designated as promising or exemplary. Since that time, OERI has commissioned four such panels: one for mathematics and science; another for educational technology; a third for safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools; and, finally, one for gender equity. Each panel's work (and membership) is available through http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ORAD/KAD/expert_panel/. For example, the math and science panel recently unveiled its list of exemplary and promising science programs (http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ORAD/KAD/expert_panel/
newscience_progs.html). Contact information for the System of Expert Panels and each individual panel is available at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ORAD/KAD/expert_panel/contact.html.

 EARLY LEARNING PROBES

Speaking of research, both the Education Department and the Arlington, VA-based National Science Foundation (NSF) have issued announcements launching clinical trials on the effects of early childhood education programs. The Department is inviting proposals under the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Grant (http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/12-2001/12202001.html). The grant's intent is to move beyond studies that describe general features in successful programs to identify the specific components that predict academic success. Indeed, the Department is looking for curricula that have sufficient standardized training and published materials to permit replication; focus on specific child outcomes; and include instructional methods supported in scientific literature. Letters of intent are due by January 15. Applications are due March 15. Meanwhile, NSF has initiated two competitions, worth $17 million each, to support research along a continuum, from brain research to science and technology learning (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02023/nsf02023.html). Pre-proposals are due March 15 and September 1, with full proposals due June 10 and December 1.

Also: Improving preschool programs was a major focus of the White House Summit on Early Cognitive Development, hosted by First Lady Laura Bush last July. Presentations from the summit, as well as press releases from each summit day, are still available at http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/07-2001/07262001-speeches.html.

 INTERNATIONAL LITERACY

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is the latest international assessment being conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (http://www.iea.nl/) -- the same organization that conducted the much-publicized Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). PIRLS will focus on the achievement and reading experiences of children in 36 countries in grades equivalent to fourth-grade in the U.S. Data collection begins in April 2001. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www.pirls.org/pirls2001.html. (Note: The next TIMSS, which will look at fourth- and eighth-grade, is scheduled for 2003.)

 INTERAGENCY SPOTLIGHT: COMING UP TALLER

From time-to-time, this section of ED Review will highlight the education-related activities of other federal agencies. Twenty-two federal agencies meet regularly, under the auspices of the Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE), to discuss and coordinate the federal investment in education.

Coming Up Taller (http://www.cominguptaller.org) is a private sector patrons program with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (http://www.pcah.gov/). The mission of the initiative is to focus national attention on, and garner support for, out-of-school programs that use the arts and humanities to provide children safe places to go, new learning opportunities, chances to contribute to their community, and ways to take responsibility for their own futures. Collaborators, ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to small businesses, provide development grants, paid performance and gallery opportunities, in-kind donations of equipment, job training and placement, and national publicity. Coming Up Taller Awards (http://www.cominguptaller.org/awards.html), sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (http://arts.endow.gov/) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (http://www.neh.gov/), focus national attention on exemplary programs currently fostering the creative and intellectual development of America's children and youth. Ten awards of $10,000 are presented each year, providing project recognition and contributing to continued work.

 QUOTE TO NOTE

"[I]t's been an extraordinary year for us.... On the domestic front, I'm really pleased with what's happened in the Congress to get the education bill, a significant piece of education reform that believes the nation should have high standards for every single child -- and that we ought to make sure when we spend money there's results. And along those lines, this bill trusts the local governments to make many decisions about educating children. We also recognize there's a federal responsibility to make sure that we help schools achieve a very important goal, that is every child learn to read -- something that Laura [Bush] has been very involved in."

-- President George W. Bush (12/21/01)

 UPCOMING EVENTS

The Department's next Satellite Town Meeting is scheduled for January 15. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://registerevent.ed.gov/downlink/event-flyer.asp?intEventID=151.

January is National Mentoring Month. During the month, a coalition of nonprofits (spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project -- http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/chc/mentoring.html) aim to (1) raise awareness of mentoring in its various forms; (2) recruit individuals to mentor, especially in programs that have a waiting list of young people; and (3) promote the rapid growth of mentoring by recruiting companies, faith communities, schools, and community groups to encourage their constituents to become mentors to young people. National TV and print ads will promote the campaign's toll-free number (1-888-432-MENTOR) and web address (www.mentoring.org) to enable individuals to obtain information about mentoring in their own communities. Studies show that mentoring is a highly effective strategy for lessening the chance that a young person will resort to violence, abuse drugs, or drop out of school. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www.mentoring.org/mentoring_month/mentoring_month.adp. (Note: As part of the No Child Left Behind Act, nearly $17.5 million in grants will be distributed to mentoring programs across the country.)

Please feel free to contact the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs with any questions:
Deputy Assistant Secretary -- Linda Wilson, (202) 401-0404, Linda.Wilson@ed.gov
Program Analyst -- Adam Honeysett, (202) 401-3003, Adam.Honeysett@ed.gov
To be added or removed from distribution, or submit comments (we welcome your feedback!), please contact Adam Honeysett. Or, visit http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/edreview/.

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