OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM REPORTS APRIL 1992 PROGRAMS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PRACTICE Programs for the Improvement of Practice (PIP) aims to narrow the gap between what is known and what is done in American education. PIP's mission is to ensure that education data, research findings, and exemplary practices are easily accessible to teachers, school administrators, and others seeking to improve education. PROGRAM ACTIVITIES OERI Bulletin. Outreach recently released the Winter edition of the OERI BULLETIN, which included a one-page message from Assistant Secretary Ravitch summarizing OERI's goals. (A copy is included in your packet of information.) The BULLETIN also includes articles on education research, statistics, and practice; describes new OERI publications and data tapes; and highlights important OERI-sponsored events and competitions for contract and grant awards. The BULLETIN is a public document and may be reproduced in part or in its entirety without permission in your association newsletters. Please credit OERI. (Contact: Kay McKinney, 219-1674) Cooperative Publishing. To expand OERI's reach, Outreach seeks out education associations and private organizations interested in cooperative publishing efforts. We are looking for businesses and associations interested in working with us to publish OERI publications, especially those targeted for parents. In addition, camera copy for several OERI publications is available so that associations or businesses can reprint OERI publications at minimal cost for distribution to their own membership or employees. (Contact: Tim Burr, 219-1673) Spanish Publications. Several popular OERI publications have been translated into Spanish to reach out to a wider audience. CĒmo escoger una escuela para su hijo (Choosing a School for Your Child) is available free from the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education (NCBE), 1118 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC, telephone 800-321-6223 (in DC 202-467-0867). The most recently translated publication CĒmo ayudar a sus hijos a usar la biblioteca (Helping Your Child Use the Library) was released in January and is now available from the NCBE. (Contact: Tim Burr, 219-1673) Exhibit Program. Outreach disseminates OERI publications and materials through its exhibit program, which is available for education association conferences and meetings. We plan to exhibit, with the Office of Public Affairs, at several major education and library association conferences in the coming months, including: the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, both in New Orleans; the American Educational Research Association, in San Francisco; and the National School Boards Association in Orlando. The Outreach Staff can provide materials for your association convention upon request. (Contact: Kay McKinney, 219-1674) A new competition for a contract to operate the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA) Publishing Center will be conducted in FY 92. The Center provides technical assistance to grantees who have received funding from the WEEA Program, which is administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Currently, the Center assists grantees in developing gender-fair products, oversees their publication, and then markets the materials to appropriate audiences. Some recent publications from the Publishing Center include CREATING SEX-FAIR FAMILY DAY CARE: A GUIDE FOR TRAINERS AND BARRIER FREE: SERVING YOUNG WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES. (Contact: Kathy Price, 219-1670) The OERI-National School Boards Association (NSBA) Study Group has completed its policy brief on the implications of the National Education Goals for members of local boards of education. The final draft of the report has been submitted and is being reviewed by the Department of Education and NSBA. (Contact: Thelma Leenhouts, 219-1558) The Leadership in Educational Administration Development (LEAD) review and processing of continuation awards has been completed for 49 LEAD Centers entering their sixth year. (Awards for the six Insular Area LEAD Centers will be made in June.) The LEAD Centers continue to develop innovative training and technical assistance practices, leadership curricula, and assessment processes, to contribute to development of improved state and local policies, and to strengthen statewide coalitions to advance leadership development and practice. Newer emphases include training for superintendents, strategies for marketing project services, alternative leadership conceptualizations, preservice reform, and telecommunications for professional support. The National LEADership Network, ED's partnership with Kraft General Foods administered through the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL), continues to link the 55 LEAD Centers, regional educational laboratories, and other groups in collaborative program development and problem-solving activities. The network recently produced publications on restructuring and school improvement and is about to publish a training manual on improving access and advancement of women and minorities in educational administration. (Contact: Marshall Sashkin, 219-2120) The Researcher Training Project is a multi-year program to prepare minorities for careers in educational research and development. Under this program, qualified candidates will be selected to participate in mentored fellowship or internship activities that will afford them the opportunity to be placed in a research setting and to engage in original research and scholarly writing. The first grant was awarded in September 1991 to the Southwest Regional Educational Laboratory (SWRL) in Los Alamitos, California, for $149,956. SWRL's program will provide paid internships for up to ten graduate students. The interns will receive a paid stipend to help with the cost of completing their dissertations, enroll in a national Policy Fellowship Program, and participate in management training activities lead by SWRL staff. SWRL will evaluate the project and prepare a formal report during the fall of 1992. The next competition will be held in the spring of 1992. The estimated award will be $201,000. (Contact: Diane Jones, 219-2146) A Study Group will convene on March 22-24, 1992, on the topic of Achieving World Class Standards: The Challenge of Educating Teachers. Practitioners and policymakers will discuss needed changes in teacher preparation, certification, and development at state and local levels necessary to achieve world class standards. (Contact: Barbara Lieb, 219-2187) The Secretary's Conferences on Improving Mathematics and Science Education are a series of three gatherings aimed at state policymakers. Their common topic is curriculum reform, with a focus on math and science. The underlying theme: How can we achieve world class standards? With considerable aid from several other federal agencies and professional associations, OERI convened the first conference on December 9-10, 1991. It examined curriculum frameworks and offered 17 exhibits demonstrating new teaching in math and science. The second, on teacher preparation and instructional materials, will be held in June 1992. A final conference on assessment will take place in late fall 1992. Ongoing activities-- study groups, publications, and consultation--will occur between the conferences to link them and to continue the dialogue. (Contact: 219-2164) Regional Educational Laboratories. The 10 regional educational laboratories entered the second program year of their current five year contracts on December 1, 1991. Overall priorities under these contracts are to serve the needs of at-risk students and small rural schools. An additional priority under an interagency agreement with the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) in HHS is to strengthen the linkages and transition between early childhood programs and early elementary school. A highly-acclaimed national policy forum on this topic was held as part of this initiative in September, as well as regional meetings conducted by the laboratories. A second national policy forum and set of regional meetings will be held in 1992. In addition, five of the laboratories will begin fieldwork to assist and evaluate promising approaches to strengthening the transition from preschool to elementary school in this contract year. The Congress appropriated an additional $4.16 million for the laboratory program in FY 92. The additional funds will be used primarily to strengthen the laboratories' collaborative capacity to serve the needs of at-risk students in urban, extreme rural and other particularly needy areas. (For information about the laboratory program in general contact: Charles Stalford, 219-2126; for a copy of the proceedings from the National Early Childhood Policy Forum contact: Mary Ches Applewhite, 219-1523.) The Rural Education Initiative, begun in 1987, enables the regional educational laboratories to support rural education activities in their regions. The laboratory contract requires that 30% of the award supports activities for rural schools. Principal activities of the labs include identification, development, and dissemination of promising practices in rural small schools. The laboratories and OERI staff are collaborating to develop a major report to Congress on the impact of the rural initiative on school improvement. A late 1992 release is planned. (Contact: Joyce Stern, 219-2095) The Network of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Drug and Alcohol Abuse has approximately 1300 member institutions, with endorsements from 18 higher education associations. A directory of members, which will include drug and alcohol resources at the state and national level, was published in September. In order for Network members to share information on their programs, policies, and publications, a special file has been established in the Higher Education Clearinghouse of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). Materials related to alcohol and other drug abuse that will be collected from Network member institutions and disseminated include instructional materials, evaluation studies, research findings, survey instruments, and conference papers. A National Forum on Substance Abuse issues in Higher Education is held in Washington, DC, annually. Additionally, twenty-one regional Networks have been established across the country to support the collaboration of resources on a local level. (Contact: Vonnie Veltri, 219-2265) The Star Schools Program is funded at $18,417,000 for new grants in FY 92. Legislative changes have been made that expand the program. Current and previously funded grantees are eligible to apply for these funds. A new grant category will offer funding for a single statewide two-way video and audio demonstration. Also, dissemination or technical assistance grants are available to state and local educational agencies not presently served by telecommunications partnerships to assist them in planning and implementing technology-based distance learning systems. Services also may be extended to adult literacy programs and for the training of early childhood professionals. A contract for the evaluation of the Star Schools Program will be awarded this year. Applications for the FY 92 grants will be available after May 15, 1992. (Contact: Frank B. Withrow, 219-2200) Members of the OERI Urban Superintendents' Network, together with key community and school leaders from their districts, met in Washington, DC, on January 29-31, 1992, to focus on the theme of building community collaboration and commitment for urban education initiatives. Participants included superintendents from thirteen urban districts as well as school board presidents, business leaders, city government representatives, community agency directors, parents, teachers, principals, and other administrators. Team members had opportunities to meet together, with other district teams, and with Department staff and other resource people around issues of common concern, and developed concrete action plans to take back to their districts. Two recent publications of the Network include COLLABORATION TO BUILD COMPETENCE: THE URBAN SUPERINTENDENTS' PERSPECTIVE (available from GPO; see "Publications") and URBAN SUPERINTENDENT TURNOVER: THE NEED FOR STABILITY (available from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, 1787 Agate Street, Eugene, OR 97403, 503-346-5043. (Contact: Mary Campbell, 219-2130) The School-Linked Integration of Services for At-Risk Children and their Families activity is a collaboration between the OERI and the Department of Health and Human Services. The overriding purpose of this activity is to develop a guidebook to assist communities interested in designing integrated services programs linked to a school. Services integration is an approach to improving the lives of at-risk children by bringing together a range of education, health, and social services to create a comprehensive system for child and family assessment, service delivery, and follow-up monitoring. A study group of 25 individuals primarily with hands-on experience in developing and working with school-linked integrated services programs have met twice in Washington, D.C., to reflect on their experiences and provide practical ideas and advice on the best ways to develop school-linked integrated service programs. A third meeting is planned for March 25-27 when the study group will review the first draft of the guidebook. A companion video will also be developed. (Contact: Susan Talley, 219-2129 or Carol Mitchell, 219-2128) The Ready to Learn Project will produce and disseminate products to assist parents in preparing their children to enter school. The project has a task force of experts in early childhood development and dissemination who met in Washington in April and October 1991. A research synthesis and an inventory of currently existing, effective readiness materials were completed in 1991. New print and non-print materials for parents to use with their children to ready them for school are expected to be developed during FY 92. (Contact: Nancy Paulu, 219-2119) The Educational Partnerships Program, with a FY 92 budget of $4,233,000, has funded, since its inception, 22 partnerships projects in 16 states. These 3-4 year projects include school districts, universities, museums, non-profit organizations, community and social service agencies, parents' organizations, and state education agencies, each project working with a variety of partners. A five year external evaluation and documentation study of the partnership grants has also been awarded to the Southwest Regional Laboratory in Los Alamitos, California, and its subcontractor, the Institute for Educational Leadership. OERI will be conducting a two-year competition in 1992. It is anticipated that 3-5 new four-year projects will be awarded in FY 92 and an additional 3-5 new awards will be made in FY 93. Approximately one million dollars each fiscal year will be available for new awards. Proposed regulations were published November 22, 1991, in the Federal Register. Final regulations and the closing date notice announcing an absolute priority will be published in the Federal Register in March. Applications are expected to be available in March with a projected deadline in May 1992. (Contact: Sue Gruskin, 219-2132) Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program awarded 28 grants in FY 1989 and 13 grants in FY 1990 to support gifted and talented education at the elementary and secondary levels. The majority of the projects identify and serve groups that are traditionally under-represented in gifted and talented education, particularly economically disadvantaged youngsters, limited English-proficient students and handicapped students. Two contracts in K-8 curriculum have been awarded, one in science and one in language arts. These projects look at high level curriculum in each subject area. A number of national leadership activities are underway to consider the current state of gifted and talented education in the reform and restructuring movement, and to make recommendations on the direction the Federal effort should take in the future. Information from the leadership activities will be synthesized and considered in developing recommendations for a national report on the status of gifted education. The report is scheduled for publication in 1992. (Contact: Pat O'Connell Ross, 219-2169) The Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the Department's national school recognition program for public and private elementary and secondary schools, has been revived. Congress failed to provide support for the elementary program in FY 92. However, Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander, after consultation with Congress, reallocated money from the AMERICA 2000 account. Because those funds will not be available until July 1992, the elementary recognition program for the 477 schools nominated in December 1991 will continue on an adjusted schedule. Site visits will be conducted in the fall of 1992; schools will be selected for recognition in December 1992; and the Washington ceremony will take place in early 1993. The 1992-93 Blue Ribbon Schools Program that will recognize secondary schools will follow the usual schedule, including a May 1992 announcement and a September 1993 Washington ceremony. (Contact: Stephen O'Brien, 219-2141) The fifth year of the Drug-Free School Recognition Program was announced in February 1992. Because of a delayed start, this year's program will operate on a condensed schedule, with nominations due to the Department by April 6, 1992, and decisions on schools to be recognized announced by July 1, 1992. The recognition ceremony will be held in Washington, DC, in the fall of 1992. (Contact: James Better, 219-2144) The National Diffusion Network (NDN) just completed its annual conference, with Assistant Secretary Diane Ravitch challenging the group to become key players in a comprehensive national dissemination system. The NDN is planning for the receipt and review of continuation applications for 60 Developer Demonstrators, two Dissemination Process Projects, five State Facilitators, and the Private School Facilitator Project. Planning also continues for the State Facilitator recompetition, which closed on March 9; the new Developer Demonstrator Projects competition, which closes on April 10; and the new Dissemination Process Projects competition, which closes on May 29. (Contact: Linda Jones, 219-2153) PUBLICATIONS Collaboration To Build Competence: The Urban Superintendents' Perspective. Developed by the OERI Urban Superintendents' Network, this book looks at how schools and school systems can provide integrated, comprehensive services through school-community partnerships to meet the needs of at-risk students. Released in December 1991, it is available for $4.00 from Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325, stock #065-000-00475-5. (Contact: Mary Campbell, 219-2130) Publications for Parents. Revised in January, this handy reference booklet offers short descriptions and ordering information for 11 booklets and brochures specifically for parents. Camera copy of this booklet is also available. (Contact: Kathy Price, 219-1670)