Fall 1999 Newsletter
Vol. 6 No. 2

Reading Emphasis Takes Off

In his "Call to Action" in the 1997 State of the Union Address, President Clinton introduced the "America Reads" initiative, calling for a "citizen army of a million volunteers" to help ensure that all American children would learn to read by the end of the third grade.  For fiscal year 1999, President Clinton and Secretary of Education Riley listed as their number one priority, "All students will read independently and well by the end of 3^rd grade."   In Governor Bob Taft's 1999 Inaugural Address, he stated that "…there is no single education challenge of greater urgency than the need to make sure every Ohio student learns how to read.

With 40% of our nation's fourth graders reading below grade level, reading has clearly become an area of significant focus on the national, state and local levels.  The U.S. Department of Education, in addition to promoting the America Reads Challenge, has also created the Reading Excellence program, The Reading Summit, and America Goes Back to School.  With  fewer than half of Ohio's fourth graders passing the reading portion of recent proficiency tests, Governor Taft has proposed the OhioReads initiative, pledging to create a volunteer force of 20,000 Ohioans to serve as reading tutors in kindergarten through the fourth grade. Taft, himself, serves as a reading volunteer for a student at an elementary school in Columbus.  Additionally, an Ohio Department of Education initiative, Growing Young Readers, assists parents in helping their children learn to read.

CALL FOR PAPERS

"Teaching Matters": P-16 Spring 2000 Mini-Conference 

Submissions should address the importance of teaching in resolving current P-16 educational concerns, innovations, instructional techniques, university-school collaborative efforts, and cutting edge strategies for preparing teachers to meet the challenges of new millennium classrooms.

• Research Papers
• Demostrations--Best Practices
• Round Tables
• Poster Sessions

Upcoming Events

Fall 1999

• U of A Honor Students' K-3 Reading Initiative Training Sessions, September 25 & October 2.
• The Education Trust Annual Conference, Nov. 11-13, 1999, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Spring 2000

1999-2000 P-16 Resource Directory of School-University Collaboratives, 4th Edition

P-16 Spring 2000 Mini-Conference

• Opening Remarks
• Plenary Speaker
• Concurrent Sessions
• Luncheon Speaker/P-16 Executive Committee Meeting
• Round Table Discussions/Concurrent Sessions
• Social Hour

The Book Shelf

American Association for State Colleges and Universities (1999). Facing Change: Building the Faculty of the Future. Washington, D.C.: Author.

Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities (1999).

Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged University. Washington, D.C.: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

Slavin, R.E., Madden, N.A., Dolan, L.J., & Wasik, B.A. (1996). Every Child, Every School.  Success for All. Newberry Park, CA: Corwin.

Important Notice

In putting together the 4^th Edition of the P-16 Resource Directory, we have discovered that the number of school-university collaboratives is down from the previous directory.  Please let us know if you have not received a request for information about your collaborative by calling Margo Koester at 972-6037.