ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 39 April 21, 2000 In this issue: [1] Library Comments Needed on Education Technology Goals The U.S. Department of Education is reviewing its last five-year strategic plan, Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge, with an eye toward revising the plan and framing new goals for education technology. Librarians and School Library Media Specialist have the opportunity to provide valuable input into this process and to raise awareness at the federal level of the vital roles that libraries, both school and public, play in elementary and secondary education. The Department of Education is seeking comments on priorities it has already identified for the next five-year strategic plan as well as suggestions for additional priorities. A special Web site has been developed that describes the planning process and allows the public to submit comments electronically: www.air.org/forum/ Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century outlined the four overarching goals that have shaped many of the federal education policies since the report's publication in 1996. As importantly, they have been the source of every major education funding increase sought by the Clinton Administration. The American Library Association will use this opportunity to improve the placement of libraries on the agendas of this and possible future presidential administrations. Due to the short time for comments, we wanted to provide you preliminary information as soon as possible. The following is the schedule for commenting and an outline of the comments ALA plans to make. We urge you to participate as well, emphasizing these concepts or contributing your own. Further details about ALA comments will be reported in ALAWON as soon as they are available. Comment Period 4/17 - 5/5 ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY: All students and teachers will have ubiquitous access to state-of-the-art information technology in their classrooms, schools and communities. ALA plans to emphasize the role of the public library in providing access for the entire community not only to computers and the Internet but also to the many databases and electronic resources often licensed at the state or local level. ALA will also reiterate the important role of the School Library Media Specialist as one of the primary technology professionals in the school. The roles of the School Library Media Center as the hub for technology access and as the center for learning about such access will also be highlighted. 4/17 - 5/5 TEACHERS & TECHNOLOGY: All teachers will effectively use technology. ALA plans to underscore the role of the School Library Media Specialist in effective use of technology and the need to communicate to teachers the value of using their School Library Media Specialist to help locate, evaluate and integrate electronic or Web-based resources just as they always have done for other media. 4/17 - 5/5 STUDENTS & TECHNOLOGY: All students will be technologically literate and responsible cybercitizens. ALA plans to stress the difference between technology literacy and information literacy and the strong professional background the School Library Media Specialist has in teaching both skill sets. 5/8 - 5/19 RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT: Research, development and evaluation will shape the next generation of technology applications for teaching and learning. ALA plans to raise concerns about the need for attention to issues such as Fair Use and improved distance education exceptions as the "e-learning economy" takes off and new technology applications are developed. 5/8 - 5/19 E-LEARNING & EDUCATION: Education will drive the e-learning economy. 4/17 - 5/19 OTHER TOPICS: Any priorities not already addressed The Education Department is also interested in any case studies or empirical studies addressing any aspect of the outlined priorities. Electronic submissions are preferred; however, comments can also be sent to the following address or FAX number: Revising the National Educational Technology Plan c/o American Institutes for Research 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW or (202) 944-5444 Washington, DC 20007 The ALA Washington Office would also be interested in a copy of your comments in whatever format you can provide. They can be e-mailed to alawash@alawash.org OR mailed to ALA Washington Office 1301 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Suite 403 Washington, DC 20004 ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley.