================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 56 ISSN 1069-7799 July 16, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (117 lines) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S DRAFT 1998-2002 STRATEGIC PLAN AVAILABLE ONLINE; COMMENTS DUE BY 7/22 NEH COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH GRANTS ANNOUNCED; DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 1 _________________________________________________________________ DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S DRAFT 1998-2002 STRATEGIC PLAN AVAILABLE ONLINE; COMMENTS DUE BY 7/22 According to today's Edtech-Alert News, the U.S. Department of Education has published an online draft of its Strategic Plan, 1998-2002. The plan will provide direction for the departments operations, through its goals and objectives. The draft plan is organized around four goals: GOAL 1: Help all students reach challenging academic standards so that they are prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment. GOAL 2: Build a solid foundation for learning. GOAL 3: Ensure access to postsecondary education and lifelong learning. GOAL 4: Make ED a high-performance organization by focusing on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction. Technology issues in the draft plan include: Objective 1.7 of Goal 1: Schools use advanced technology for all students and teachers to improve education. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: All teachers and students will have modern multimedia computers in their classrooms by 2001. The percentage of public school instructional rooms connected to the Information Superhighway will increase from 14% in 1996 to 25% in 1998, and an increasingly larger percentage thereafter. At least 50% of teachers will integrate high-quality educational technology, high-quality software, and the Information Superhighway into their school curriculum for effective support of student learning by 2001. CORE STRATEGIES: Technology connections, especially for high-poverty schools. Use the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund discounts, and "NetDays" to wire schools to use educational technology, connect every student and school to the Information Superhighway. Modern computers, especially for high-poverty schools. Encourage local, State, Federal and private sector partnerships to provide access to modern computers for all teachers and students. The Technology Innovation Challenge Fund will provide $425 million of funds for states and districts to plan, purchase and effectively use modern computers and other educational technology. The entire plan is available at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/StratPln97/index.html. Feedback is welcome and must be submitted by Tuesday, July 22, 1997. Suggestions and comments can be submitted by e-mail to Strategic__Plan@ed.gov _________________________________________________________________ NEH COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH GRANTS ANNOUNCED; DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 1 National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research grants support original research undertaken by a team of two or more scholars, or research coordinated by an individual scholar that because of its scope or complexity requires additional staff or resources beyond the individual's salary. These grants support full-time or part-time activities for periods of up to three years. Support is available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related travel; and technical support and services. All grantees are expected to publish or in other ways to disseminate the results of their work. Awards normally range from $10,000 to $200,000, and the use of federal matching funds is encouraged. Individuals and nonprofit institutions and organizations in the United States are eligible for support. The deadline for applications is September 1. Information, application guidelines and forms are available at the NEH website http://www.neh.fed.us/html/guidelin/collab.html or by contacting the Division of Research and Education Programs, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506; Telephone: 202/606-8210; E-mail: research@neh.fed.us _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Carol C. Henderson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================