UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
THE SECRETARY
TECH CORPS VOLUNTEERS
Fall 1996
It is my great pleasure to greet the volunteers of Tech Corps on the occasion of its first anniversary. Thank you for the work you are doing in support of America’s schools.
President Clinton has called this time in our country’s history the “Age of Possibility” because it is a time of both challenge and opportunity. Many of those challenges and opportunities confronting us are brought on by the remarkable advances being made in information technology and telecommunications. If America is to continue to be successful into the next century, we must prepare out students to cope with and take full advantage of these advances.
Community involvement in education is important to students’ success in every area. Research shows that when family and community members are directly involved in education, children achieve better grades and higher test scores, have much higher reading comprehension, graduate at higher rates, are more likely to enroll in higher education, and are better behaved. That is why the Department of Education is working, through our America Goes Back to School: Get Involved! program, to encourage family members, community and religious leaders, scientists and artists, and all caring citizens to gather in programs like Tech Corps to support education.
Your efforts to teach students, teachers and administrators to use technology effectively are a vital part of this effort. By helping teachers to understand new technologies and itegrate them into their curricula, working with them in the classroom and mentoring students and staff, you are helping them to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities that this age offers. And by doing so, you are performing an invaluable service not only for them but also for America.
Thank you for your important work on behalf of America’s students, and best wishes.
Richard W. Riley
600 INDEPENDENCE AVE., S.W. WASHINGTON D.C. 20202-0100
Our mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the Nation.