    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [October 28, 1997]
    [Pages 1442-1443]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Memorandum on Low-Performing Public Schools
    October 28, 1997

    Memorandum for the Secretary of Education

    Subject: Turning Around Low-Performing Public Schools

        Since taking office in 1993, and with your strong leadership, my
    Administration has pursued a comprehensive effort to strengthen public
    schools. We have worked to raise academic standards, promote
    accountability, and provide greater competition and choice within the
    public schools, including support for a dramatic increase in charter
    schools. Moreover, we have worked to make the investments necessary to
    improve teaching and learning in classrooms across America, through
    efforts to keep our schools safe and free of drugs; to provide students
    who need it extra help to master the basics; to increase parental and
    community involvement; to recruit, prepare, and provide continuing
    training to teachers and reward excellence in teaching; and to make sure
    every school has access to and can effectively use 21st century
    technology.
        This strategy is starting to produce results. We know that all
    students can learn to high standards, and that every school can succeed
    if it has clear instructional goals and high expectations for all of its
    students; if it creates a safe, disciplined and orderly environment for
    learning; helps parents be involved in their children's education; and
    uses proven instructional practices. All schools must be given the
    resources, tools, and flexibility to help every student reach high
    standards.
        Yet, no school improvement strategy can succeed without real
    accountability for results, as measured by student achievement.
    Excellent schools and schools that show significant improvement must be
    recognized and rewarded. At the same time, schools that demonstrate
    persistently poor academic performance--schools that fail to make
    adequate progress in educating all students to high standards--must be
    held

    [[Page 1443]]

    accountable. No American child deserves to get a second-class education.
    Instead, State and local education officials must step in and redesign
    failing schools, or close them down and reopen them with new, more
    effective leadership and staff.
        A growing number of cities and States have begun to take these
    steps. Cities such as Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New
    York, and States such as Maryland and Kentucky identify low-performing
    schools and take steps to intervene if these schools fail to make
    progress. These steps often include the implementation of school
    improvement plans--providing afterschool academic help to students,
    strengthening training and assistance for school staff, creating smaller
    and more personal settings, such as schools-within-schools--and, where
    necessary, reconstitution of the school and replacement of the school
    principal and other staff.
        We must encourage and help more cities and States to take up the
    challenge of turning around low-performing schools and helping the
    students they serve get back on the path to achievement. We can do this
    by making widely available information on what works and what doesn't,
    and by ensuring that Department of Education resources are most
    productively used for these purposes.
        In order to accomplish this, I am directing the Department of
    Education to take the following actions within 90 days:
        1. Produce and Widely Disseminate Guidelines on Effective Approaches
            to Turning Around Low-Performing Schools. There is much of value
            to be shared from the experiences of cities and States that
            already have successfully intervened in low-performing schools;
            from research and development on effective school improvement
            practices; and from business experience in managing high-
            performance organizations and in turning around low-performing
            companies. We know of several promising models of reform,
            ranging from the New American Schools designs to the Success for
            All program. These lessons must be summarized in clear and
            usable forms, and made widely available to educators, parents,
            State and local policymakers, business leaders, and others
            working to improve public education.
        2. Help Cities and States Use Existing Department of Education
            Resources to Turn Around Low-Performing Schools. First,
            Department of Education programs should help and encourage more
            cities and States to develop and implement sound, comprehensive
            approaches to turn around low-performing schools and help
            students in them get a better education. The Department should
            develop a plan to provide technical assistance to cities and
            States seeking to turn around failing schools. In addition, the
            Department should inform cities and States of how they can use
            funds from existing Department programs to support their
            objectives. Many programs, such as Title I, Goals 2000, the
            Public Charter Schools Program, and the 21st Century Schools
            Program, are well suited for intervening in failing schools,
            because they can be used to provide extra help to students
            during and after the school day; to support high quality
            professional development for teachers; and to plan and implement
            effective school reforms. The Department should ensure that
            local school districts can easily and effectively access Federal
            funds from such programs and use them in an integrated fashion
            to support comprehensive efforts to improve low-performing
            schools. Where there are statutory barriers to accomplishing
            this purpose, such barriers should be identified so we can work
            with the Congress to change them.
        Together, these initiatives can help local school districts turn
    failing schools into successful schools by improving teacher training,
    strengthening instructional practices, overhauling school management,
    and implementing schoolwide reforms. They can provide students who need
    it with extra help, during and after school hours. And they can provide
    students with additional choices within the public schools.

                                                          William J. Clinton