Goals 2000: Educate America Act

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: National Education Goals

Title II: National Education Reform Leadership, Standards,

and Assessments

Part A: National Education Goals Panel

Part B: National Education Standards and Improvement

Council

Part C: Leadership in Educational Technology

Part D: Authorization of Appropriations

Title III: State and Local Education Systemic Improvement

Title IV: Parental Assistance

Title V: National Skill Standards Board

Title VI: International Education Program

Title VII: Safe Schools

Title VIII: Minority-Focused Civics Education

Title IX: Educational Research and Improvement

Part A: General Provisions Regarding Office of

Educational Research and Improvement

Part B: National Educational Research Policy and

Priorities Board

Part C: National Research Institutes

Part D: National Education Dissemination System

Part E: National Library of Education

Part F: Star Schools

Part G: Office of Comprehensive School Health Education

Part H: Field Readers

Part I: Amendments to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational

and Applied Technology Education Act

Title X: Miscellaneous

Part A: Miscellaneous Provisions

Part B: Gun-Free Schools

Part C: Environmental Tobacco Smoke

Part D: Midnight Basketball League Training and

Partnership

Goals 2000: Educate America Act - Title I: National Education Goals - Sets forth national goals for education, to be achieved by the year 2000, in the following categories: (1) school readiness; (2) school completion; (3) student achievement and citizenship (including access to physical and health education); (4) teacher education and professional development; (5) mathematics and science; (6) adult literacy and lifelong learning; (7) safe, disciplined, alcohol- and drug-free schools; and (8) parental participation. Sets forth specific objectives for each goal.

Title II: National Education Reform Leadership, Standards, and Assessments - Part A: National Education Goals Panel - Establishes the National Education Goals Panel in the executive branch.

(Sec. 203) Requires the Panel to report annually on progress: (1) toward achieving the national education goals; (2) actions that Federal, State, and local governments should take to enhance such progress; and (3) State opportunity-to-learn standards and Strategies to help all students meet State content and student performance standards.

(Sec. 207) Directs the Panel to support the work of its Resource and Technical Planning Groups on School Readiness to improve methods of assessing the readiness of all children for school that would lead to alternatives to currently used early childhood assessments.

Part B: National Education Standards and Improvement Council - Establishes the National Education Standards and Improvement Council in the executive branch.

(Sec. 213) Requires the Council to develop and certify (subject to Panel review and approval) voluntary national standards for content areas, student performance, and fair opportunity-to-learn. Authorizes the Council to certify any such standards presented by a State, if these are comparable to or higher than the national standards.

Directs the Council to certify a system of assessments voluntarily presented by a State if such system meets certain criteria. Prohibits such a system from being used to make decisions regarding graduation, grade promotion, or retention of students for five years after enactment of this Act.

(Sec. 219) Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make more than one competitive grant to a consortia of various individuals and organizations to develop voluntary national opportunity-to-learn standards and a listing of model programs for State voluntary use.

(Sec. 220) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to applicant State and local educational agencies (SEAs and LEAs) to help defray costs of developing, field testing, and evaluating systems of assessments aligned to Council-certified State content standards.

(Sec. 221) Directs the Secretary to make a grant to the National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Education to evaluate the work of and the process used by the Panel and Council and provide them information.

Part C: Leadership in Education Technology - Directs the Secretary to carry out activities for Federal leadership in educational technology, including: (1) a national long-range technology plan; and (2) assistance to States to plan effectively for the use of technology in all schools.

(Sec. 233) Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to establish an Office of Educational Technology.

(Sec. 236) Amends the Training Technology Transfer Act of 1988 to transfer the Office of Training Technology Transfer (currently in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement) to the Office of Educational Technology.

Part D: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for the Panel, the Council, the opportunity-to-learn development grants, and assessment, development, and evaluation grants.

Title III: State and Local Education Systemic Improvement - Establishes a five-year grant program for State and local education systemic improvement.

(Sec. 303) Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 306) Sets forth requirements for State improvement plans, including strategies for: (1) improving teaching and learning (including standards for content, student performance, and opportunity-to-learn); (2) system governance, accountability, and management; (3) parental and community support and involvement; (4) State system-wide improvement; (5) promoting bottom-up reform; and (6) coordination with school-to-work programs and of the integration of academic and vocational instruction.

(Sec. 309) Requires State education agencies (SEAs) to make competitive subgrants for: (1) local reform, to LEAs; and (2) preservice teacher education and professional development activities, to LEAs or consortia of LEAs, in cooperation with higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations, or combinations of these, through a peer-review process. Requires that at least: (1) 50 percent of local reform subgrants be awarded to LEAs with a greater percentage or number of disadvantaged children than the statewide average; and (2) 50 percent of subgrant funds be made available by an LEA to schools with a special need for assistance.

(Sec. 310) Provides for availability of information and training to private elementary and secondary schools.

(Sec. 311) Authorizes the Secretary to waive requirements and related regulations of specified Federal laws relating to education upon request of SEAs, LEAs, and schools if such requirements impede their ability to carry out the State or local education improvement plans, and if other conditions are met.

Education Flexibility Partnership Demonstration Act - Requires the Secretary to carry out an education flexibility demonstration program wherein up to six designated States may waive certain statutory or regulatory requirements.

(Sec. 312) Requires annual progress reports from States to the Secretary, and biennial reports by the Secretary to the Congress.

(Sec. 313) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to and contracts with various entities to assist SEAs and LEAs in achieving a greater degree of equity in distribution of financial resources for education among LEAs in the State. Authorizes development and dissemination of models and materials useful to States in revising their school finance systems.

(Sec. 314) Authorizes the Secretary to provide for national leadership activities, including technical assistance, integration of standards, demonstration and model projects, data-gathering, research, evaluation, and information-dissemination. Reserves funds for grants to urban and rural LEAs with large numbers or concentrations of students economically disadvantaged or with limited English proficiency, to assist in school improvement plans development and implementation.

(Sec. 315) Provides for assistance under this title for outlying areas, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and Department of Defense schools.

(Sec. 316) Provides that standards, assessments, and systems of assessments described in a State improvement plan submitted in accordance with specified provisions of this title shall not be required to be certified by the Council.

(Sec. 317) Directs the Secretary to award grants for State planning for improving student achievement through integration of technology into the curriculum. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 318) Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize Federal mandates, direction, or control over a State, local educational agency, or school's curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State and local resources.

(Sec. 319) Reaffirms that responsibility for control of education is reserved to the States and local school systems and other State instrumentalities and that no Federal action under this Act would reduce, modify, or undercut such responsibility.

Title IV: Parental Assistance - Authorizes the Secretary to make annual grants to nonprofit organizations to provide training and information to parents of children aged birth to five years and children enrolled in participating schools and individuals who work with such parents.

(Sec. 404) Directs the Secretary to provide technical assistance for parent training, information, and support programs and parental information and resource centers.

(Sec. 408) Authorizes appropriations.

Title V: National Skill Standards Board - National Skill Standards Act of 1994 - Establishes a National Skill Standards Board.

(Sec. 504) Directs the Board to identify broad clusters of major occupations that involve one or more industries in the United States and, with respect to each cluster, promote and assist in voluntary development and adoption by specified representative groups of industries, employees, and educational institutions of: (1) skill standards; (2) assessment and certification systems; (3) evaluation systems; (4) information dissemination systems; and (5) revision and updating of systems. Includes among the standards which the voluntary skill standards must meet or exceed the highest applicable standards used in the United States, including apprenticeship standards registered under the National Apprenticeship Act. Provides for Board endorsement of standards systems that: (1) meet certain requirements; (2) are submitted by entities that meet specified requirements; and (3) meet additional objective criteria published by the Board. Gives the Board research, dissemination, and coordination duties. Authorizes the Board to enter into contracts to carry out purposes of this title. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to make grants to voluntary partnerships for development of skill standards systems.

(Sec. 507) Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 509) Sets forth a sunset provision, but encourages appropriate congressional committees to review Board accomplishments to determine if the repeal date should be postponed.

Title VI: International Education Program - Directs the Secretary (with the concurrence of the Director of the U.S. Information Agency and the foreign policy guidance of the Secretary of State) to carry out an International Education Program that shall provide for: (1) grants to study, evaluate, and analyze education systems in other nations (particularly Great Britain, France, Germany, and Japan); and (2) an International Educational Exchange Program, which shall in part assist Central and Eastern European and former Soviet educators in adapting exemplary civic government and economic education programs developed in the United States.

(Sec. 601) Authorizes the Secretary to award up to three competitive contracts with independent nonprofit educational organizations, with specified types of experience, to carry out the Exchange Program.

Authorizes appropriations.

Title VII: Safe Schools - Safe Schools Act of 1994 - Directs the Secretary of Education to make competitive grants to eligible LEAs for projects to achieve National Education Goal Six by helping to ensure that all schools are safe and free of violence.

(Sec. 702) Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 706) Authorizes the Secretary to use certain reserved funds to conduct national leadership activities such as research, program development and evaluation, data collection, public awareness activities, training and technical assistance, information dissemination, and peer review of applications under this title. Directs the Secretary to develop a written safe schools model so that all schools can develop models that enable all students to participate regardless of any language barrier.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) designate the District of Columbia as a national model city; and (2) provide certain reserved funds to an LEA serving the District for a comprehensive program to address school and youth violence.

(Sec. 707) Amends the General Education Provisions Act to require schools to include school safety policy and statistics on the incidents of school violence as part of the information collected and provided under the national cooperative education statistics system.

(Sec. 708) Requires LEA reports to the Secretary, and the Secretary to report to the Congress.

(Sec. 709) Directs the Attorney General to coordinate Federal assistance under this title and similar programs through the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Title VIII: Minority-Focused Civics Education - Minority-Focused Civics Education Act of 1994 - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to eligible entities to develop and implement seminars in U.S. government and civics for elementary and secondary school teachers and other educators who work with minority and Native American students. Authorizes appropriations.

Title IX: Educational Research and Improvement - Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994 - Part A: General Provisions Regarding Office of Educational Research and Improvement - Amends the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) to repeal certain provisions for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) under GEPA (and to reauthorize and revise OERI under this Act).

(Sec. 912) Directs the Secretary of Education, acting through OERI, to carry out specified policies, guided by the Research Priorities Plan developed by the Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement with collaboration and approval by the National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board. Provides that OERI, administered by the Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement (the Assistant Secretary), shall include: (1) the National Educational Research and Priorities Board; (2) the national research institutes; (3) the national education dissemination system; (4) the National Center for Education Statistics; and (5) such other units as the Secretary deems appropriate. Provides for a research priorities plan, standards for conduct and evaluation of research, and independent evaluations.

Requires open competition and peer review for all awards of grants or contracts by OERI.

Authorizes appropriations for OERI programs and units (both current ones and ones added by this Act).

(Sec. 913) Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to provide for an Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement.

(Sec. 914) Provides that contracts for regional educational laboratories, education resources information clearinghouses, and research and development centers assisted under GEPA shall remain in effect until their own termination date.

(Sec. 915) Requires existing grants and contracts for the research and development centers assisted under GEPA to remain in effect until their termination, and allows them to be extended to implement the provisions of this Act.

Part B: National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board - Establishes within OERI a National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board (Board).

(Sec. 921) Makes the Board, collaborating with the Assistant Secretary, responsible for specified functions.

Directs the Board to review and approve the research priorities plan developed by the Assistant Secretary.

Part C: National Research Institutes - Establishes the following National Research Institutes within OERI: (1) the National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum, and Assessment; (2) the National Institute for Education of At-Risk Students; (3) the National Institute for Innovation in Educational Governance, Finance, Policy-Making, and Management; (4) the National Institute for Early Childhood Development and Education; and (5) the National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Education. Sets forth provisions relating to such Institutes' targeting historically underrepresented researchers and institutions. Directs the Assistant Secretary to provide for research syntheses and the coordination of research and development activities among the Institutes to investigate cross-cutting disciplines and areas of inquiry relevant to the missions of more than one of the Institutes.

Part D: National Education Dissemination System - Establishes within OERI an Office of Reform Assistance and Dissemination (Dissemination Office), through which the Secretary shall carry out a national education dissemination system for school improvement. Provides for Dissemination Office functions and duties, including: (1) identification, designation, and dissemination of exemplary and promising programs including certain training, technical, and financial assistance; (2) the Education Resources Information Clearinghouses; (3) dissemination through new technologies; (4) an electronic network for sources of materials and research about teaching and learning for improving nationwide education to link various educational research and other entities; (5) a networked system of the ten regional educational laboratories; (6) the Goals 2000 Community Partnerships Program; (7) the Teacher Research Dissemination Demonstration Program; and (8) the existing National Diffusion Network and its Developer-Demonstrator and State Facilitator projects.

(Sec. 941) Authorizes the Assistant Secretary to make grants, under the Goals 2000 community Partnerships Program, to support establishment of Learning Grant Institutions and District Education Agents and authorized activities for educational innovation, educator preparation, and integrated systems of service delivery for children from birth through age 18 and their families in eligible communities.

Part E: National Library of Education - Establishes within the Department of Education a National Library of Education (the Library) to: (1) provide a central location within the Federal Government for information about education; (2) provide comprehensive reference services on education-related matters; and (3) promote greater cooperation and resource-sharing among education information providers and repositories in the United States.

(Sec. 951) Requires the Library to: (1) establish a one-stop central information and referral service to respond to inquiries from the public; and (2) publicize a toll-free telephone number for public inquires.

Directs the Library to deliver comprehensive reference services of various types on education-related subjects.

Directs the Library to promote greater cooperation and resource-sharing among libraries and archives with significant collections in the area of education.

Requires the Library to be administered by an Executive Director appointed by the Assistant Secretary.

Directs the Assistant Secretary to appoint a task force of librarians, scholars, teachers, parents, and school leaders (Task Force) to advise on establishment of the Library.

Transfers to the Library all functions of the Department's: (1) Research Library; (2) Reference Section; and (3) Information Branch.

Requires the Assistant Secretary to promulgate a comprehensive collection development policy to govern the Library operations, acquisitions, and services to users. Requires the Executive Director to develop a multiyear plan for elimination of cataloging arrearages and for response to preservation needs.

Part F: Star Schools - Amends the Star Schools Assistance Act to revise the formula for the required reservation of funds for an independent evaluation of the Star Schools Assistance Program.

Part G: Office of Comprehensive School Health Education - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to transfer the Office of Comprehensive School Health Education (OCSHE) from the Office of the Secretary (of Education) to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Requires OCSHE to act as a liaison office for coordination of its activities with related activities of the Department of Health and Human Services and to expand school health research grant programs.

Part H: Field Readers - Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to authorize the Secretary to use up to one percent of funds appropriated for any education program that awards such funds on a competitive basis to pay the expenses of non-Federal experts necessary to review applications and proposals for such funds. (Makes such provision inapplicable to any education program under which funds are authorized to be appropriated for such expenses and fees.)

Part I: Amendments to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act - Amends the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act to include postsecondary employment and training programs among those whose common occupational information needs must be met by the system developed and implemented by the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee.

(Sec. 991) Requires each State board for higher education to develop a data collection system whose results can be integrated into the occupational information system.

Title X: Miscellaneous - Part A: Miscellaneous Provisions - Prohibits use of funds under this Act by any State or LEA to adopt policies that prevent voluntary prayer and meditation in public schools.

(Sec. 1012) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal Government should provide States and communities with adequate resources under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

(Sec. 1013) Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 with respect to a matching funds requirement for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

(Sec. 1014) Forgives certain overpayments to Colfax County, New Mexico, under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

(Sec. 1015) Directs the Secretary to arrange with the National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Education for a study of the inclusion of children with disabilities in GOALS 2000 school reform activities.

(Sec. 1016) Amends the Job Training Partnership Act to revise summer youth employment and training program design to authorize academic enrichment (as well as remedial education) activities. Adds to required services basic education and preemployment training, integration of work and learning, and educational linkages. Prohibits private actions by participants to obtain services described in the assessment or service strategy.

(Sec. 1017) Amends the General Education Provisions Act to revise provisions for protection of pupil rights. Directs the Secretary to establish or designate an office and review board to enforce such rights.

(Sec. 1018) Requires the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education to ensure that all federally funded programs for distributing contraceptive devices to unemancipated minors develop procedures to encourage family participation.

(Sec. 1019) Prohibits use of title II funds to develop or undertake assessments that will be used to make decisions regarding the graduation, grade promotion, or retention of students for five years after enactment of this Act.

Allows the use of such assessments developed with title III funds only on condition that students have been prepared in the content for which they are being assessed.

(Sec. 1020) Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the use of funds under title III to directly or indirectly benefit any non-public school.

(Sec. 1021) Amends the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act to allow the Commissioner for Education Statistics to authorize a State educational agency (SEA) or a consortium of SEAs to use items and data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to evaluate a course of study, upon the Commissioner's determination that such use will not have specified prohibited results or other prohibited uses. Limits such authorizations to one in any fiscal year.

(Sec. 1022) Sets forth the sense of the Congress regarding compliance with the Buy American Act, purchase of U.S.-made equipment and products with financial assistance under this Act, and prohibition of contracts under this Act with those who falsely label products as "Made in America."

Part B: Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to require local educational agencies (LEAs), as a condition of receiving ESEA assistance from the State, to have in effect a policy requiring expulsion from school for at least one year of any student who has brought a firearm to a school under LEA jurisdiction.

Part C: Environmental Tobacco Smoke - Pro-Children Act of 1994 - Prohibits smoking within any indoor facility (including one operated by a Federal agency) providing routine or regular: (1) kindergarten, elementary, or secondary education or library services to children; or (2) health care, day care, or early childhood development (Head Start) services to children, or used by employees of the person providing such services (except any portion of the facility used for inpatient hospital treatment of individuals dependent on or addicted to drugs or alcohol, or a private residence).

(Sec. 1043) Provides for special waivers for persons who provide children's services pursuant to certain collective bargaining agreements.

Prescribes civil penalties for violations of this part, to be assessed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

(Sec. 1044) Declares that this part shall not preempt more restrictive State or local laws.

Part D: Midnight Basketball League Training and Partnership - Midnight Basketball League Training and Partnership Act - Amends the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants to establish midnight basketball league training and partnership programs incorporating employment counseling and training and other educational activities for residents of public housing and federally assisted housing and other low-income youth and young adults in distressed areas.

(Sec. 1052) Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to: (1) establish a related advisory committee; and (2) provide grants to eligible entities to run such programs, to eligible advisory entities to provide technical assistance, and to one entity qualified to study the programs' effectiveness.

Authorizes appropriations.