A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

To receive funding under GOALS 2000, your local school board will appoint a community planning panel. You'll probably want to check with your school board to find out if a planning panel has been created and what you can do to help.

One of the most important jobs of this panel is to start a discussion about "how we can improve education in our community." This discussion can help the panel develop -- with input from parents, educators, and other citizens, science and arts groups, businesses, and colleges -- the community's GOALS 2000 effort. That is the mission of your planning panel: to rally the community around developing and pursuing a comprehensive, long-term plan of action.

The panel probably has a better chance of succeeding if its members, as a whole, reflect the diversity of the community, and if various stakeholder groups are represented. Your school board may want to recruit individuals from at least the following groups:

• Teachers and other school staff, parents (including families of children having special needs), secondary school students, school administrators, grandparents, early childhood educators, civic leaders, local government officials, representatives of business, higher education, and community-based organizations, and others.

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For detailed answers to frequently asked questions about the GOALS 2000: Educate America Act, call 1-800-USA-LEARN and ask for a copy of the Guidance booklet. For suggestions about how to rally your community around common goals, you'll want to see the "Community Organizing Guide," a section of the Community Action Toolkit.

Refer to "The Process" section of this publication for a more complete description of the Toolkit

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[Getting Started] [Asking Questions: How Well Are Students Learning]