[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 14, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1544-E1546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF THE EDUCATING AMERICA'S GIRLS ACT OF 1999, H.R. 2505

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DALE E. KILDEE

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 14, 1999

  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce The Educating 
America's Girls Act of 1999, or the Girls Act, along with 
Representatives Nancy Johnson, William Clay, Connie Morella, Lynn 
Woolsey, and many of my other colleagues today.

[[Page E1545]]

  In 1994, I worked very closely with the American Association of 
University Women (AAUW) and the National Coalition for Women and Girls 
in Education (NCWGE) to ensure that the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act (ESEA) responded to gender-related differences in 
educational needs in order for each student to reach his or her full 
educational potential. Due to the changes adopted in the 1994 ESEA 
reauthorization, gender equity is a major theme throughout the current 
ESEA including: requiring professional development activities to meet 
the needs of diverse students, including girls; encouraging 
professional development and recruitment activities to increase the 
numbers of women math and science teachers; having sexual harassment 
and abuse as a focus of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act; and 
reauthorizing the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA), which funds 
research and programs to achieve educational equity for women.
  The Girls Act responds to findings in the 1998 AAUW Educational 
Foundation Report, Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children, 
which identified a number of areas where the educational needs of girls 
are still unmet. The Girls Act seeks to prepare girls for the future 
by: employing technology to compensate for different learning styles 
and exposing technology to disadvantaged groups, including girls; 
reducing the incidence of sexual harassment and abuse in schools; 
gathering data on the participation of girls in high school athletics 
programs; keeping pregnant and parenting teens in school; and 
reauthorizing the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA).
  Education technology, which is being increasingly integrated into the 
curriculum of schools, is a new arena in which we must ensure that 
girls are not at a disadvantage. While the gaps in math and science 
achievement have narrowed for girls in the past six years, a major new 
gender gap in technology has emerged. While boys program and problem-
solve with computers, girls use them for word processing--the 1990s 
version of typing. Little attention has been given to how the computer 
technology gender gap may impact girls' and boys' educational 
development. We need to dismantle the virtual ceiling now, before it 
becomes a real-life barrier to girls' futures.
  Gender Gaps found that girls, when compared to boys, are at a 
significant disadvantage as technology is increasingly incorporated 
into the classroom. Girls tend to come to the classroom with less 
exposure to computers and other technology, and girls believe that they 
are less adept at using technology than boys. Girls tend to have a more 
``circumscribed, limited, and cautious'' interaction with technology 
than boys. Schools can assist girls in developing a confident 
relationship with technology by intergrating digital tools into the 
curriculum so girls can pursue their own interests.
  Gender Gaps warned that gender differences in the uses of technology 
must be explored and equity issues addressed now, before bigger gaps 
develop as computers become an integral part of teaching and learning 
in the K-12 curriculum. This is especially true considering that by the 
year 2000, 65 percent of all jobs will require technology skills. 
Current law lacks assurances that federal education programs will 
compensate for girls' different learning styles and different exposures 
to technology. I believe that federal education technology programs 
should be designed to better prepare girls for their future careers. 
The Girls Act requires states and local school districts to incorporate 
technology requirements in teacher training content and performance 
standards, to provide training for teachers in the use of education 
technology, and to take into special consideration the different 
learning styles and different exposures to technology for girls.
  Sexual harrassment and abuse is a serious issue for the education of 
women and girls and should be a focus in the broader context of safety 
in our schools. The vast majority of secondary school students 
experience some form of sexual harassment during their school lives, 
with girls disproportionately affected. Sexual harassment is widespread 
and affects female students at all levels of education, including those 
in elementary and secondary schools. The AAUW Educational Foundation's 
1993 survey of 8th through 11th grade students on sexual harassment in 
schools, Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in 
America's Schools, shows that the vast majority of secondary school 
students experienced some form of sexual harassment and that girls are 
disproportionately affected. While data on the incidence of sexual 
harassment is scant, Hostile Hallways found: 85 percent of girls 
experienced some form of sexual harassment; 65 percent of girls who 
have been harassed were harassed in the classroom and 73 percent of 
girls who have been harassed were harassed in the hallway of their 
school; a student's first experience of sexual harassment is most 
likely to occur in 6th to 9th grade; most girls were harrassed by a 
male acting alone or a group of males; and 81 percent of girls who have 
been harassed do not report it to adults.
  A 1996 University of Michigan study showed that sexual harrassment 
can result in academic problems such as paying less attention in class 
and Hostile Hallways found that 32 percent of girls do not want to talk 
as much in class after experiencing harassment. Thirty-three percent of 
girls do not want to go to school at all due to the stress and anxiety 
they suffered as a result of the sexual harassment. Nearly 1 in 4 girls 
say that harassment caused them to stay home from school or cut a 
class.
  We know little else about the extent of sexual harassment or even the 
nature and extent of more serious sexual crimes in schools. The Safe 
and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA) requires the 
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to collect data on 
violence in elementary and secondary schools in the United States. 
However, these reports provide only a very limited picture of sexual 
offenses in schools because they only capture data on rape or sexual 
battery reported to police. Further, school crime victimization surveys 
do not include questions on threats or abuse that are sexual in nature.

  Sexual harassment in schools is illegal, a form of sexual 
discrimination banned under Title IX of the Education Amendment of 
1972. On the 25th anniversary of Title IX, a report by NCWGE found that 
less progress was made in the area of sexual harassment than in any 
other gender equity issue in education. NCWGE concluded that few 
schools have sexual harassment policies, or effectively enforce them. 
In addition to calling for more intensified Office of Civil Rights 
enforcement, NCWGE called on schools to adopt comprehensive policies 
and programs addressing sexual harassment.
  The Girls Act affords an opportunity to greatly reduce the incidence 
of sexual harassment by gathering data on these often hidden offenses 
and providing programs to prevent sexual harassment and abuse. As 65 
percent of sexual harassment in schools occurs in the classroom, the 
Girls Act trains teachers and administrators to recognize sexual 
harassment and develop prevention policies to greatly reduce incidences 
of sexual harassment and abuse in schools.
  Equal access to education for girls means equal access to 
opportunities for athletic participation in our schools, particularly 
our high schools. Unfortunately, nationwide data measuring the 
participation of girls in physical education and high school athletics 
programs is very limited. Data on girls' participation in physical 
education and high school athletics programs must be collected and 
regularly reported by the U.S. Department of Education in order to 
determine whether girls are fully participating in these activities. 
Participation in high school athletics programs is important for girls 
because research has shown that it improves girls' physical and mental 
health. Additionally, for some girls, high school athletic 
participation can translate into college scholarships. However, 
currently there is very little data on high school athletic 
opportunities for girls to ensure that girls' interests are being met.
  A study by the President's Council on Physical fitness and Sports 
recently found that girls playing sports have better physical and 
emotional health than those who do not. The study also found that 
higher rates of athletic participation were associated with lower rates 
of sexual activity and pregnancy. Other studies link physical activity 
to lower rates of heart disease, breast cancer, and osteoporosis later 
in life. Sports build girls' confidence, sense of physical empowerment, 
and social recognition within the school and community.
  Many girls who participate in high school athletics programs receive 
college scholarships. Girls who have pursued athletic opportunities 
have received solid encouragement from parents, coaches, and teachers. 
By participating in high school athletics programs, girls increase 
their chances at receiving a college scholarship. For many girls, a 
college scholarship is the only way they can pursue higher education. 
The Girls Act requires the National Center on Education Statistics to 
collect data on the participation of high school students in physical 
education and athletics programs by gender.
  Education is the means for all girls, including pregnant and 
parenting teens, to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Despite strides 
in making education accessible to girls, dropping out of school remains 
a serious problem. Five out of every 100 young adults enrolled in high 
school remains a serious problem. Five out of every 100 young adults 
enrolled in high school in 1996 left school without successfully 
completing a high school program. In October of 1997, 3.6 million young 
adults, or 11 percent of young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 in 
the United States, were neither enrolled in a high school program nor 
had they completed high school. Girls who drop out are less likely than 
boys to return and complete school.

[[Page E1546]]

  Twenty-five years after the enactment of Title IX, pregnancy and 
parenting are still the most commonly cited reasons why girls drop out 
of school. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any 
industrialized nation. Almost one million teenagers become pregnant 
each year and 80 percent of these pregnancies are unintended. Two-
thirds of girls who give birth before age 18 will not complete high 
school. Further, the younger the adolescent is when she becomes 
pregnant, the more likely it is that she will not complete high school. 
The Girls Act strengthens support for programs to keep pregnant and 
parenting teens in school to earn a high school diploma.
  Finally, the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA) represents the 
federal commitment to helping schools eradicate sex discrimination from 
their programs and practices and to ensuring that girls' future choices 
and success are determined not be their gender, but by their own 
interests, aspirations, and abilities. Since its inception in 1974, 
WEEA has funded research, development, and dissemination of curricular 
materials; training programs; guidance and testing activities; and 
other projects to combat inequitable educational practices. The Girls 
Act reauthorizes WEEA.
  Mr. Speaker, up to this point I have primarily focused my efforts on 
strengthening accountability, teacher quality, class-size reduction and 
school safety, but I intend to seed the incorporation of many of the 
Girls Act provisions in our efforts to reauthorize ESEA. By working 
together, we can ensure that the educational needs of both boys and 
girls are met in the 1999 reauthorization of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act so that the adults of tomorrow will be prepared 
to compete in the ever-changing global economy of the 21st century.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to introduce the Educating America's Girls 
Act of 1999 today and urge my colleagues to support this important 
legislation.

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