[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 18 (Monday, May 8, 2000)]
[Pages 985-987]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13153--Actions To Improve Low-Performing Schools

May 3, 2000

    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

[[Page 986]]

(``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;
      (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.

[[Page 987]]

    (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 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.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 May 3, 2000.

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:45 a.m., May 4, 
2000]

 Note:  This Executive order was published in the  Federal Register  on 
May 5.