hn Improving Schools Is Major Goal (NAPSA)—Here’s good news, for a change, about education in America. A major program to improve public education in municipalities of all sizes has been set up by the officials of the National League of Cities (NLC). The oldest and largest national organization representing municipal governments, it has created an information kit distributed to mayors and other elected municipal officials around the country. The kit outlines ways to remove obstacles to children’s achievement, building coalitions for change and promoting adequate school funding. It provides up-to-date facts, resources and examples of school-improvement campaigns that have worked in large and small school systems. The kit challenges school and elected officials to explore such specific questions as: What proportion of middleschool students make thetransition to high school? What percentage of students at various grade levels score at or above proficiency levels in national and state tests? How do graduation rates and achievement levels for poor and minority students compare with middle-class and white students? Cited as examples of school programs that have achieved specific goals are a Boston, Massachusetts technology program to “wire” schools with high-speed computers; El Segundo,California’s transfer of GE . Community leaders have a new tool to help them improve public schools. the budget-short school library administration to a joint operation of the town and school system, improving quality of materials and services to pupils; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s new Education Advisory Board of 20 citizens as a conduit for the concerns of parents, teachers, taxpayers and otherlocal interests to take action on a wide rangeof issues. The kit reflects the League’s conviction that urban officials must enhance schools’ abilities to help students learn and meet high standards, help schools find and recruit good teachers, and provide an effective climate for learning. For a look at the kit, log on to www.nlc.org/iyef.
