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COMMUNITY 
UPDATE
THIS MONTH'S FOCUS: EARLY LEARNING
September 2000 Issue No. 80 
Cheryl Merritt, Principal of Double Oaks Pre-Kindergarten and Family Resource Center 
FULL STORY ON PAGE 6
S
chool enrollments will generally stay at record levels over the next10 years and then begin to increaseeach year for the rest of the century,according to projections by the U.S.Department of Education’s NationalCenter for Education Statistics.This fall, a record 53 million students will enter the nation’s public and privateschool classrooms, and full-time collegeenrollment will reach 15.1 million, alsoa record.“We cannot continue to apply tem-porary solutions to permanent, ongoingchallenges,” U.S. Secretary of EducationRichard W. Riley said. “The fact thatmany schools have been using portableclassrooms for some years now makesclear that we are not prepared for thekinds of constant growth the future willbring.”Riley said the need for school con-struction is already critical in many communities. The administration sup-ports legislation H.R. 4094, introducedby Reps. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) andCharles Rangel (D-N.Y.) that wouldauthorize states to use $24.8 billion innew tax credit bonds to build and mod-ernize schools.Currently, the greatest increase inenrollments is at the high school level.Over the next decade the number of high school graduates will increasenationwide by about 10 percent. Sixstates—Arizona, California, Florida,Illinois, Nevada and North Carolina— will see the number of high school grad-uates jump by 20 percent or more. Full-time college enrollments are thenexpected to grow 19 percent by 2010;part-time enrollments will increase by 11 percent.Riley said overcrowded high schoolspresent a special challenge, as researchindicates that teenagers do better, aca-demically and socially, when they havefewer than 600 classmates. The adminis-
Record School Enrollments, Again
Greatest Increases Seen at High School Level 
“When you work with young children,there’s that window of opportunity...” 
U.S. Department of Education 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 3)
Archived Information
 
In June, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley addressed the Early Childhood Summit in Washington,D.C. An excerpt of his remarks follows.
I
n the last 10 years, an extraordi-nary amount of scientific researchhas been developed that tells us in very clear terms that all of our chil-dren, even in the earliest months of their lives, have an amazing ability tolearn. Over the years, I have had theopportunity to listen to presentationsabout what brain researchers are dis-covering and it is truly astonishing. We now know that every conversa-tion we have with an infant can liter-ally spark their brain to grow somemore.
The nursery rhymes they hear will surely help them in their later years 
.That’s my nursery rhyme to help youremember as well.This research, coupled with newresearch on how children learn toread, has given all of us—parents,grandparents, childcare advocates andeducators—some very clear directionabout setting policy. We now knowthat it is absolutely imperative that weput a new, powerful and sustainedfocus on the early years—ages 0 to 5years—before children even enter firstgrade.Put simply, and this should be ourcollective motto—the stronger thestart, the better the finish. Our chil-dren are eager to learn, they are cre-ative in how they learn, and they havean extraordinary capacity to learn if  we know how to encourage them theright way. Our children are, as I havesaid so many times before, smarterthan we think.
 A full copy of the speech is available at www.ed.gov/Speeches/06-2000/ 000623a.html.
COMMENTS
EditorCommunity Update400 Maryland Avenue, S.W.Room 5E209 Washington, D.C. 20002Fax: 202-205-0676OIIA_Community_Update@ed.gov
SUBSCRIPTIONS
ED PubsP.O. Box 1398 Jessup, MD 207941-877-4ED-PUBSedpubs@inet.ed.gov
CREDITS
Community Update 
is published by the Officeof Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs,U.S. Department of Education.
U.S. Secretary of Education 
Richard Riley 
 Assistant Secretary 
Mario Moreno
Director, Community Services 
 John McGrath
Editor 
Nicole Ashby 
Contributing Writers 
 Julie BlackNicholas CabiatiLibby Doggett Menahem HermanNaomi Karp Aba KumiEd Leo Barbara PattersonMary Smith Sharon Stevens
Designer 
 Jason Salas Design
Community Update 
contains news and information about publicand private organizations for the reader's information. Inclusiondoes not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any products or services offered or views expressed.
COMMUNITY 
UPDATE
September 2000 Issue No. 80 
U.S. Department of Education 
Secretary Encourages Support forEarly Learning
Mars Project Continues
Due to an enthusiastic receptionby schools and community organ-izations, the Mars MillenniumProject has been extended forthe coming school year. To seepictures and descriptions of over 500 model communitiesdesigned by children who haveparticipated, go to the Mars MillenniumProject Web site at www.mars2030.net andclick on the “Virtual Gallery,” and select“Martian Communities.” For more infor-mation, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.
2 COMMUNITY UPDATE
D
ue to the growing participationof mothers with young chil-dren in the labor force, thedemand for quality childcare is at an all-time high. Over the last three decades,the percentage of three- and four-year-olds enrolled in preschool programs rosefrom about 11 percent to 48 percent.Studies indicate that children livingin poverty are much more likely to suc-ceed in school if they attend well-planned early childhood programs.South Carolina provides an exampleof how targeted investments and policiescan improve learning along with thehigh involvement of parents.Starting in the late 1970s, it was clearthat the state’s education potential would be severely limited unless efforts were begun to address early childhoodeducation. For example, in 1979 only 60 percent of preschoolers met theschool readiness standard on an individ-ually administered assessment.In the early 1980s, large-scale efforts were begun to boost half-day kinder-garten availability and attendance, and,for the first time, thousands of low-income four-year-olds were provided ahalf-day child development program.Then-Governor Riley stated in his firstinaugural address, “If nothing else, weshould try to be first in the first grade where it really counts.”The result: readiness scores jumped to75 percent by 1987, a 15 percentincrease. However, from 1987 to 1997,little new activity took place to expandearly childhood education and readinessscores stagnated. Then from 1997 to1999, the state expanded full-day kinder-garten and began the “First Steps” pro-gram. Consequently, readiness scores roseagain from the 1987 level of 75 percentto 84 percent in 1999.
Early Learning Investments Pay Off in South Carolina
 
SEPTEMBER 2000 3 
tration is seeking a $120 million appro-priation to help communities restructurehigh schools into smaller, more intimatelearning environments. While national K–12 enrollments willremain relatively stable over the next 10years, all Western states will haveincreases—Alaska, Idaho, Nevada andNew Mexico can expect jumps in enroll-ment of more than 10 percent. After2010 the number of school-age childrennationally will begin to increase, risingsome 6 percent by 2020.“We need to figure out where we willput these children, and who will teachthem,” Riley said. “Many communitiesneed to be building more schools now,to reduce overcrowding and to reduceclass sizes. We also need to find ways toinduce more people into teaching as acareer.”
Growing Pains 
, the annual back-to-school report issued this August, projectsthat some 2.2 million teachers will beneeded over the next decade just to meetenrollment expectations and to replaceteachers leaving the profession throughretirement or to pursue more lucrativeopportunities. A copy of this report canbe downloaded from www.ed.gov/pubs/bbecho00/index.html.
E
nsuring that early childhood pro-grams are of high quality demands a substantial investmentin the education and training of those who work with young children, says asoon-to-be-released reportfrom the National ResearchCouncil.The study,
Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers 
,presents an up-to-date pic-ture of early learning andcare for children ages two tofive, and offers a number of suggestions for improvingearly childhood education inpreschool, day care andother settings. An importantmessage of the study is thateducation and child care cannot bethought of as separate; both are criticalto the development of young children.
Eager to Learn 
recommends that every group of children in an early childhoodprogram be assigned a teacher who has abachelor’s degree and has completedcoursework in developmental psycholo-gy, early childhood education, specialeducation or similar fields of study.Pre-service preparation for early childhood teachers should include asupervised student teaching or intern-ship experience. And education pro-grams for new teachers should providethem with a strong foundation of knowledge about the development of children’s social and affectivebehavior, thinking and lan-guage.The study is the work of the National ResearchCouncil’s Committee onEarly Childhood Pedagogy,established in 1997 to study a broad range of behavioraland social science researchon early learning and devel-opment and to evaluate thequality of preschool pro-grams. Their study was con-ducted at the request of the U.S.Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvementand Office of Special EducationPrograms, as well as The SpencerFoundation and The Foundation forChild Development.
Eager to Learn 
is scheduled for releasein October. An executive summary of the report is now available free of chargeat http://books.nap.edu/books/0309068363/html/1.html#pagetop.
U
.S. Secretary of EducationRichard Riley will open theSatellite Town Meeting’s2000-2001 season with a programentitled “Modernizing Schools:Technology and Buildings for a NewCentury.” The live satellite broadcaston Tuesday, September 19, from 8:00p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, willfocus on how communities canextend the benefits of technology toall students while meeting the chal-lenge of overcrowded classrooms andcrumbling school buildings. A panel of school and community leaders will join Secretary Riley todiscuss ways that well-designedschools and thoughtfully plannededucational technology can be pow-erful tools to enhance teaching andlearning. Among the questions to beaddressed are: How can technology help raise achievement for all chil-dren? And how can facilities meet theneeds of the explosively growingschool population, while providingstudents with the smaller learningenvironments they need?For program and technical infor-mation about the Satellite TownMeeting, call 1-800-USA-LEARN,or visit www.ed.gov/registerevent.Updates are also available from STM-List, a free service providing currentinformation about programming andteleconferences, which can be joinedby sending an e-mail toSatellite_Town_Meeting@ed.gov.The Satellite Town Meeting is pro-duced by the U.S. Department of Education in partnership with theU.S. Chamber of Commerce and theNational Alliance forBusiness. Corporatepartners for the2000-2001 seriesinclude the BayerFoundation and theProctor & Gamble Fund.
SEPTEMBER
Satellite Town Meeting
to Focus on Technology,School Construction 
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1)
New Study Explores S
 
olutions toEarly Education Challenges
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