[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 88 (Friday, May 5, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 26475-26477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-11531]



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Part V





The President





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Executive Order 13153--Actions To Improve Low-Performing Schools



Executive Order 13154--Establishing the Kosovo Campaign Medal
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 88 / Friday, May 5, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

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                Executive Order 13153 of May 3, 2000

                
Actions To Improve Low-Performing Schools

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, including the Elementary and Secondary 
                Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), the Department of 
                Education Appropriations Act, 2000 (as contained in 
                Public Law 106-113), and in order to take actions to 
                improve low-performing schools, it is hereby ordered as 
                follows:

                Section 1. Policy. Since 1993, this Administration has 
                sought to raise standards for students and to increase 
                accountability in public education while investing more 
                resources in elementary and secondary schools. While 
                much has been accomplished--there has been progress in 
                math and reading achievement, particularly for low-
                achieving students and students in our highest poverty 
                schools--much more can be done, especially for low-
                performing schools.

                Sec. 2. Technical Assistance and Capacity Building. (a) 
                The Secretary of Education (``Secretary'') shall work 
                with State and local educational agencies (``LEAs'') to 
                develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for 
                providing technical assistance and other assistance to 
                States and LEAs to strengthen their capacity to improve 
                the performance of schools identified as low 
                performing. This comprehensive strategy shall include a 
                number of steps, such as:

(1) providing States, school districts, and schools receiving funds from 
the school improvement fund established by Public Law 106-113, as well as 
other districts and schools identified for school improvement or corrective 
action under Title I of the ESEA, with access to the latest research and 
information on best practices, including research on instruction and 
educator professional development, and with the opportunity to learn from 
exemplary schools and exemplary State and local intervention strategies and 
from each other, in order to improve achievement for all students in the 
low-performing schools;

(2) determining effective ways of providing low-performing schools with 
access to resources from other Department of Education programs, such as 
funds from the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program, the 
Reading Excellence Act, the Eisenhower Professional Development Program, 
the Class Size Reduction Program, and the 21st Century Community Learning 
Centers Program, and to make effective use of these funds and Title I 
funds;

(3) providing States and LEAs with information on effective strategies to 
improve the quality of the teaching force, including strategies for 
recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers in high-poverty schools, 
and implementing research-based professional development programs aligned 
with challenging standards;

(4) helping States and school districts build partnerships with technical 
assistance providers, including, but not limited to, federally funded 
laboratories and centers, foundations, businesses, community-based 
organizations, institutions of higher education, reform model providers, 
and other organizations that can help local schools improve;

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(5) identifying previously low-performing schools that have made 
significant achievement gains, and States and school districts that have 
been effective in improving the achievement of all students in low-
performing schools, which can serve as models and resources;

(6) providing assistance and information on how to effectively involve 
parents in the school-improvement process, including effectively involving 
and informing parents at the beginning of the school year about improvement 
goals for their school as well as the goals for their own children, and 
reporting on progress made in achieving these goals;

(7) providing States and LEAs with information on effective approaches to 
school accountability, including the effectiveness of such strategies as 
school reconstitution, peer review teams, and financial rewards and 
incentives;

(8) providing LEAs with information and assistance on the design and 
implementation of approaches to choice among public schools that create 
incentives for improvement throughout the local educational agency, 
especially in the lowest-performing schools, and that maximize the 
opportunity of students in low-performing schools to attend a higher-
performing public school;

(9) exploring the use of well-trained tutors to raise student achievement 
through initiatives such as ``America Reads,'' ``America Counts,'' and 
other work-study opportunities to help low-performing schools;

(10) using a full range of strategies for disseminating information about 
effective practices, including interactive electronic communications;

(11) working with the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs 
(BIA), to provide technical assistance to BIA-funded low-performing 
schools; and

(12) taking other steps that can help improve the quality of teaching and 
instruction in low-performing schools.

                    (b) The Secretary shall, to the extent permitted by 
                law, take whatever steps the Secretary finds necessary 
                and appropriate to redirect the resources and technical 
                assistance capability of the Department of Education 
                (``Department'') to assist States and localities in 
                improving low-performing schools, and to ensure that 
                the dissemination of research to help turn around low-
                performing schools is a priority of the Department.

                Sec. 3. School Improvement Report. To monitor the 
                progress of LEAs and schools in turning around failing 
                schools, including those receiving grants from the 
                School Improvement Fund, the Secretary shall prepare an 
                annual School Improvement Report, to be published in 
                September of each year, beginning in 2000. The report 
                shall:

                    (a) describe trends in the numbers of LEAs and 
                schools identified as needing improvement and 
                subsequent changes in the academic performance of their 
                students;
                    (b) identify best practices and significant 
                research findings that can be used to help turn around 
                low-performing LEAs and schools; and
                    (c) document ongoing efforts as a result of this 
                order and other Federal efforts to assist States and 
                local school districts in intervening in low-performing 
                schools, including improving teacher quality. This 
                report shall be publicly accessible.

                Sec. 4. Compliance Monitoring System. Consistent with 
                the implementation of the School Improvement Fund, the 
                Secretary shall strengthen the Department's monitoring 
                of ESEA requirements for identifying and turning around 
                low-performing schools, as well as any new requirements 
                established for the School Improvement Fund by Public 
                Law 106-113. The Secretary shall give priority to 
                provisions that have the greatest bearing on 
                identifying and turning around low-performing schools, 
                including sections 1116 and 1117 of the ESEA, and to 
                developing an ongoing, focused, and systematic

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                process for monitoring these provisions. This improved 
                compliance monitoring shall be designed to:

                    (a) ensure that States and LEAs comply with ESEA 
                requirements;
                    (b) assist States and LEAs in implementing 
                effective procedures and strategies that reflect the 
                best research available, as well as the experience of 
                successful schools, school districts, and States as 
                they address similar objectives and challenges; and
                    (c) assist States, LEAs, and schools in making the 
                most effective use of available Federal resources.

                Sec. 5. Consultation. The Secretary shall, where 
                appropriate, consult with executive agencies, State and 
                local education officials, educators, community-based 
                groups, and others in carrying out this Executive 
                order.

                Sec. 6. Judicial Review. This order is intended only to 
                improve the internal management of the executive branch 
                and is not intended to, and does not create any right 
                or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at 
                law or equity by a party against the United States, its 
                agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or 
                employees, or any other person.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                     May 3, 2000.

[FR Doc. 00-11531
Filed 5-4-00; 11:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P