In this edition, you will find some of the provisions of Title V. These provisions allow for the implementation of a wide variety of federal programs to improve teaching and learning at the state, district, and local levels. Visit http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/nclbreference/index.html for more detailed information on each of the following areas of Title V.

• support state and local efforts to implement promising education reform programs;
• provide a continuing source of innovation and educational improvement;
• help meet the special education needs of at-risk and high-need students; and
• support programs to improve school, student, and teacher performance.

The Reading Is Fundamental (RIF)—Inexpensive Book Distribution Program provides assistance to local nonprofit organizations and to public agencies for reading-motivation programs, including the distribution of inexpensive books to promote reading.

Consistent access to books and other reading materials can increase children's motivation to read and help them keep up academically with their peers. Children who begin school without access to literacy-rich environments at home are at a significant disadvantage compared to children who do not have access to such environments..

Smaller Learning Communities

Several studies have concluded that students attending smaller high schools are more engaged and, as a result, experience higher levels of attendance, academic achievement, and involvement in extracurricular activities. This program supports local efforts to create smaller learning communities within large high schools.

The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act supports research, demonstration projects, innovative strategies, and similar activities to help elementary and secondary schools meet the special educational needs of gifted and talented students. Outstanding talents are present in children from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor. Programs for gifted and talented students exist in every state and in many school districts, but the number and percentage of students identified as gifted and talented vary from state to state due to differences in state laws and local practices.

Distance learning can enrich regular classroom instruction and provide high-quality instruction in remote or high-poverty locations where students otherwise do not have access to specialized courses, such as advanced placement courses. In addition to providing affordable access to learning opportunities, high-quality distance learning can produce learning gains at least as large as those from traditional instruction.

By 2000, nearly all public schools, and seventy-seven percent of their classrooms, in the United States had access to the Internet. This ratio has steadily improved over the last five years. Distance learning is increasingly widespread at all educational levels, including the emergence of “virtual schools” in many states.

The Star Schools Program encourages improved instruction in mathematics, science, foreign languages, literacy skills, vocational education, and other subjects. Through the use of telecommunications technologies, the program emphasizes learning opportunities for underserved populations, including the disadvantaged, illiterate, limited-English proficient, and individuals with disabilities.

Teacher preparation and professional development are important to increase student performance. Internet and other telecommunications-based professional development can provide research-based professional development on an ongoing basis to teachers in a variety of locations to help improve teaching and learning. For example, studies of educational technology effectiveness report that teacher expertise in using technology can substantially increase the learning gains associated with using the technology. While eighty percent of public school teachers surveyed in 1999 reported that they had access to training in use of the Internet, evaluations suggest that much of the current professional development is too short and not well integrated with ongoing instruction.

The Ready-To-Teach program provides grants to nonprofit telecommunications organizations, or partnerships of such organizations, to carry out national telecommunications-based programming to improve teaching in core curriculum areas. In addition, Digital Educational Programming Grants support the development of educational programming that includes student assessment tools to provide feedback on student academic achievement.

The following reports are available for free at: http://www.ed.gov/about/pubs/intro/innovations.html

• Creating Strong District School Choice Programs offers real-life “lessons learned” in implementing No Child Left Behind's school choice provisions. (Order # EU 0108P)
• Creating Strong Supplemental Educational Services Programs shows how five school districts provided low-income children in schools in need of improvement with free tutoring and academic assistance. (Order # EU 0107P)
• Successful Charter Schools profiles the successes of eight charter schools around the country. (Order # EU 0109P)
• Creating Successful Magnet Schools Programs serves as a guide for starting a magnet program and suggests how to improve a program and evaluate progress. (Order # EU 0113P)
• Alternative Routes to Teacher Certification looks at six programs that prepare people who already have content knowledge, such as midcareer professionals, liberal arts graduates, retired military personnel, and other college graduates, to teach. (Order # EU 0115P)
• Innovative Pathways to School Leadership provides examples of successful strategies to prepare candidates for school leadership. (Order # EU 0117P)