U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley will host a national teleconference Tuesday, December 1, at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the findings in a "Nation's Report Card" based on a nationwide assessment (National Assessment of Educational Progress) in 1997 of the arts knowledge and abilities of American students.
The program, "Arts Literacy for A Changing America," will involve outstanding community, business and school leaders in analyzing why the knowledge and skills developed in learning the arts constitute an important form of "literacy" students need to meet the challenges of American society. "The process of studying and creating in all of its distinct forms defines those qaulities that are the heart of education reform in the 1900's," said Secretary Riley, "creativity, preseverence, a sense of standards, and above all striving for excellence."
The teleconference sites will be at the following locations: Arch Ford Education Cooperative, Plumerville; South Central Cooperative, Camden; Wilbur D. Mills Education Service Cooperative, Beebe; Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative, Springdale; Great Rivers Educational Cooperative, Helena; Southwest Arkansas Educational Cooperative, Hope; North Central Arkansas Education Service Center, Melbourne; Arkansas River Valley Educational Service Cooperative, Pine Bluff and the Arkansas Department of Education, Little Rock.