Testimony from June 15, 1999

Prepared Testimony from Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education

Good morning. I want to thank the Committee for inviting me to address you today and for focusing on such an important subject as the impact of technology on the U.S. economy.

The sustained growth of our economy is a development from which most Americans have benefited. You have already heard from a number of CEOs in the technology industry of how technology has constituted a strong base in the expansion of our economy (and, I am told, that the previous testimony has emphasized the clear importance of education standards and education quality in preparing our country for its technological future).

I agree with many of these comments. Statistics show, for instance, that more Americans today make computers than make cars. More build semiconductors than construction machinery. And these jobs pay higher -on average 73 percent higher -- than other private sector jobs. Furthermore, virtually every sector of our economy utilizes technology to enhance its efficiency and productivity.

But I think it is critically important, even as we recognize these facts, to address what we need to do to be prepared for the future in order to continue this kind of positive economic growth.

I want to direct my comments today to the underlying importance of the link between education, technology and our economic success in the present and in the future.

I firmly believe that we need to build a broader and stronger workforce that knows how to capitalize on the potential of technology. It is indisputable that technology is profoundly changing what we learn and how we need to learn. And the appropriate use of technology is a critical part of an overall educational experience that will help our students reach high standards of learning.

In addition, our students need a broader base of knowledge and set of skills to navigate these rapidly changing times.

We are at a critical point in our history. We can remain leaders in the area of technology - or we can fall from the top. The outcome will depend largely on the investments and improvements we are willing to make in our schools. Information technologies do not operate in a vacuum. The mere existence of a high powered computer or a telecommunications network, for instance, does little for a society that lacks the knowledge or skills to use it.

The urgency to address the shortage of information technology workers is also the urgency to focus on bringing high standards of learning into every American school.

Chairman Greenspan, from whom this Committee heard yesterday, has identified this issue perfectly when he attributed our continuing national prosperity to a thriving "economy of ideas." His point was that our nation's growing wealth increasingly is being driven by ideas - by intellectual and human resources rather than by physical labor and natural resources.

Today, education and technology power our economy and empower our citizens. Across our society, demands for specialized skills requiring knowledge and training in the sciences, mathematics and technology are growing.

Almost 90 percent of new jobs require more than a high school level of literacy and math skills. Consider, for instance, that an entry-level automobile worker today must be able to apply formulas from algebra and physics to properly wire a car's electrical circuits.

The time, energy, and resources communities invest in building better schools and helping young people move from school into college and rewarding careers will shape the future of our world.

We need to focus on providing a strong grounding in the basics - if we want strong skills in the world of technology. We need rigorous coursework and qualified and well-trained teachers in every classroom - if we want students who can take on the challenges of the modern workplace.

We need to persuade more bright young Americans to pursue study in math, science, and technology so they can build promising futures for themselves and our country.

That is why this Administration has focused on increasing investments in education that can make a real difference in the quality of the lives of Americans - from pre-school to post graduate education. It is why we have emphasized learning in the basics - reading, mathematics, science, and technology education. It is also important that they learn how to be good citizens.

Our proposal on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act will benefit our nation's K-12 students. It will reinforce and enhance the importance of high standards and of providing every child the opportunity for a quality education. It will ensure that students meet high expectations and that schools provide real accountability.

This focus includes preparing tomorrow's students and teachers to use technology, and helping schools acquire the technology they need for the 21st century. But it also includes an effort to modernize schools, invest in quality after-school extended learning programs, reduce class size, and recruit and train more quality teachers.

The ESEA proposal also places special emphasis on helping at-risk students achieve educational and career goals through efforts to raise student achievement, lower dropout rates and offer extended learning opportunities.

We also need to expand the pipeline to success. How can we do this? Research shows, for instance, that young people who have taken gateway courses like algebra I, geometry, and chemistry go on to college at nearly twice the rate of those who do not. And the difference is even more striking for low-income students. These students are almost three times as likely to attend college if they take this rigorous series of courses early.

It is why our Administration developed with members of Congress the GEAR UP Partnership, which links colleges primarily with middle schools to help disadvantaged students prepare for college.

I should note one more resource that can make all the difference -- a qualified, well-prepared and fully engaged teacher. Unfortunately, while there are many talented, dedicated teachers today, there are far too many teachers who are teaching out of field, without even a major or minor in their subject area. This is exacerbated by record student enrollments and teacher retirements that will create a demand for 2.2 million new teachers over the next 10 years.

I am especially excited about our creation of a National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. I am delighted that Senator John Glenn has agreed - indeed was eager -- to serve as Chair of this Commission as his next mission for his country. This American hero understands as well as anyone the need to focus on teaching and learning math and science at high levels in order to build for the future.

I am also pleased that the Administration and Congress have created a national commission to explore the skills necessary for the information technology workforce, and to examine ways to expand the number of skilled workers. Senator John Warner was a key advocate of this Commission.

One critical way in which we must work to build a strong economic and educational future is to continue to invest in the newest basic - the newest tool for learning -- technology.

Today's students are the first generation that will be expected to have technology skills for their careers and future success. Over the next six years, for instance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is estimated that there will be a 70 percent growth in computer and technology related jobs.

Those Americans with the ability to use technology effectively will be in the best position to build rewarding careers and productive lives.

Technology is not a substitute for solid teaching and learning. It is a tool for helping teachers teach and for helping students learn at the highest levels. It is one part of a comprehensive quality learning experience that, at its very core, involves the concept of teaching people to think and to continue to learn throughout their lifetimes so that they can benefit from change.

As Robert Hutchins, the great educator and former president of the University of Chicago wrote, "The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives."

The Federal Government has placed a particularly strong emphasis on investing in educational technology. We provide under seven percent of the budget nationally for education. But we provide 25 percent of the funding for innovative use of technology in schools.

This investment includes the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, which provides $425 million in grants to help States and Local districts develop educational technology and provide teachers with the professional development they need to use technology effectively in the classroom.

It also includes the Technology Innovation Challenge Grants, a $106 million competitive grant program to demonstrate innovative uses of educational technology by building partnerships among local school districts, universities, businesses, libraries, software designers, and others.

The Community-Based Technology Centers helps expand access to information technology and learning services through the creation of computer learning facilities in low-income communities. And the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology program provides $75 million to help ensure that tomorrow's teachers are prepared to integrate technology effectively into the curriculum.

These initiatives are helping to stimulate the development of an educated, flexible, capable, thinking and caring workforce that can put theory into practice and be good citizens. Not everyone can be a high tech CEO or an inventor of some new technology. But without a competent, educated labor force to bring life to great ideas, the successes we are now achieving will wither.

I also want to highlight one of the most important aspects of technology - that is the promise it offers in terms of increased accessibility to quality education for many who have traditionally been denied that access.

For instance, many students who live in rural areas have been able to link up with world-class libraries and museums and participate in distance learning programs. And many disabled students have used learning technologies to open doors to resources that might otherwise have been closed to them.

But even as we see increasing opportunities of this kind across the country through the use of technology in learning, it is clear that we are not doing enough. We are failing to seize this opportunity to close the gaps in educational excellence that remain.

Unfortunately, we are in the midst of a severe "digital divide" - a gap between those who have access to computers and the Internet - and those who do not. And it is a divide centered largely on racial, economic, and other demographic lines.

I am pleased that the E-Rate, which Vice President Gore has provided leadership on, is helping to make a real difference in leveling the playing field when it comes to the wealth of technological learning tools on the Internet. And the recent increase in funding will only quicken the pace of expanded opportunities.

In part because of the E-Rate, 89 percent of the nation's schools - and 51 percent of its classrooms are now wired to the Internet. And if the funding stays at the current level, every classroom should be wired by the end of the year 2000.

Just a few years ago many schools did not even have these kinds of technological opportunities they are getting today. These students are the workforce of tomorrow - and we want the best-prepared workers and citizens we can get.

Increasingly, in my conversations with business leaders I am hearing about the value they place on knowing how to think and solve problems creatively, rather than simply being able to do the job for which they were hired. These leaders of business understand the value of an education grounded in the basics, but which includes a diverse learning experience that helps to broaden a person's skills.

A good friend of mine, for instance, who runs Policy Management Systems Corporation in South Carolina, Larry Wilson, has told me that his best recruits in his high tech software company are music majors.

That is why this Administration is continuing to push for a broad range of initiatives - from recruitment and training of quality teachers, to helping communities build and modernize schools, to strengthening quality learning opportunities in the earliest years and open the doors to higher education.

Together these initiatives offer a comprehensive means of achieving high standards, of helping students think critically and of learning to make wise choices.

Members of the Committee, I can assure you that providing this kind of investment in quality education is the best way to guarantee that the economic success we have achieved - and which you are studying here today - will continue for years to come.

In closing, I want to leave the committee with four broad recommendations.

First, I urge the Committee to refocus its attention not simply on technology, but on technology as one critical piece of the education of our nation. Without this broader emphasis, I feel we will be shortchanged in the future and unprepared for the real challenges that lie ahead.

Second, I believe we need to increase our investment in research and development of this field. We know, for instance, that there are significant links between the use of learning technology and achievement in traditional subject matter. And we also know, through several studies, that students in schools that integrate technology into the traditional curriculum have higher attendance and lower dropout rates --which leads to greater academic success.

But we are far enough along in the technological revolution and its application to learning that it is time for systematic review and analysis of what works best. I urge the Congress to address this.

Third, I encourage all of the members of the technology industry who are testifying before you as well as those who are not to work to develop partnerships with local schools and community technology centers. In addition, I urge these business leaders to work with the education community and experts on learning, to design the next generation of technology applications for learning.

Whether your specialty is hardware or software, wiring, or something else, there is a great need for what you do in our schools. Invest in your communities and you and your businesses will be stronger for it in the end.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to maintain and expand the focus on strengthening equity in education generally, and in access to learning technologies in particular. Our newest tools for learning give us the power to close the divide that often exists based on race, economics, gender, or other factors. We must seize, not shirk this responsibility and opportunity through important and sensible policies like the E-Rate. It is time to break the cycle of technological inequity, not perpetuate it.

Members of the Committee, if used effectively, the learning tools of technology can be an extraordinarily positive force for improvement in our schools, as well as for increased economic success and productivity in our workplaces. Let us use this tool wisely. To paraphrase a wise old m