94-9088. Office of Educational Research and Improvement: Meetings

[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 73 (Friday, April 15, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-9088]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: April 15, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

 

Office of Educational Research and Improvement: Meetings

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

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SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the schedule for a series of 
forthcoming public meetings. The Office of Educational Research and 
Improvement (OERI) will support and participate in these meetings with 
respect to its reauthorization and how, within the context of its 
reauthorization, it can be most responsive to public needs.

DATE, TIME, AND LOCATION: These meetings will be held in five 
metropolitan areas. The schedule and location of the meetings are as 
follows:
     April 22, 1994--Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL
     May 5, 1994--Austin, TX
     May 18, 1994--Seattle, WA
     May 20, 1994--Chicago, IL
     May 24, 1994--Portland, ME

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information about the 
specific site, address, and time of each of the meetings listed above, 
contact Laurence Peters, Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant 
Secretary, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., suite 600, Washington DC, 20208-
3350. Telephone: [phone]. FAX: [phone]. Individuals who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8 
p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As part of the U. S. Department of 
Education, the mission of OERI is to generate new knowledge about 
education and share this knowledge to improve educational practice. To 
fulfill this mission, OERI carries out the following specific 
responsibilities: Collecting and interpreting data; assessing student 
achievement; supporting basic and applied research; linking research to 
effective practice; advancing innovative school improvement projects; 
creating a national education dissemination system; and using 
electronic networking and new technologies to support the dissemination 
of information. In summary, OERI looks for answers to questions about 
every aspect of teaching and learning and sponsors programs to improve 
American education. OERI meets these responsibilities by awarding 
contracts as well as discretionary grants and cooperative agreements.
    In carrying out its responsibilities, OERI is committed to 
supporting Executive Order 12862, Setting Customer Service Standards, 
which provides that the Federal Government be ``customer driven'' and 
that ``[p]utting people first means ensuring that the Federal 
Government provides the highest quality service possible to the 
American people.'' To deliver the ``highest quality service,'' OERI 
must understand its customers' needs and interests and how it can be 
most responsive to these needs and interests. OERI must also take into 
account its reauthorizing legislation, Public Law 103-227, which 
emphasizes OERI's obligation to consider its end users' needs when 
developing products or planning activities. This legislation also calls 
for the restructuring of OERI into a collection of interconnected, 
topic-centered institutes to expand fundamental knowledge and 
understanding of education, promote excellence and equity in education, 
and monitor the state of education.
    These institutes will involve building a mission-oriented 
organization to concentrate resources on the following priority 
research and development needs: Student achievement, curriculum, and 
assessment; education of at-risk students; educational governance, 
finance, policy-making, and management; early childhood development and 
education; and postsecondary education, libraries, and lifelong 
education. In addition, OERI will establish successful reform 
assistance and dissemination practices in order to ensure that 
teachers, parents, administrators and policymakers have ready access to 
the best information and methods available as a result of educational 
research and development.
    The Assistant Secretary for OERI will attend these meetings: (1) To 
solicit comments from customers about key education issues and problems 
that OERI should consider and address as it carries out its mission; 
and (2) to listen to and gather information from potential OERI 
customers in order to make OERI products and services more responsive 
to customer needs. Potential customers include school officials, 
parents, teachers, and students. The meetings are open to the public. 
They will focus on a description of OERI's new mission and plans, and a 
public discussion of major issues and problems facing American 
education.

    Dated: April 11, 1994.
Sharon P. Robinson,
Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement.
[FR Doc. 94-9088 Filed 4-14-94; 8:45 am]
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