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"Federal Resources for Educational Excellence"
(FREE) Launched by Feds
Reported by Dave Keefe for America Tomorrow



April 10... Hundreds of federal resources for teaching & learning can now be found at one web site, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley announced this week.

"This new web site, Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE), offers one-stop shopping for a treasure trove of historical documents, scientific experiments, mathematical challenges, famous paintings, and other tools for teachers & students," Riley said.

A search of the web site produces dozens of resources for teaching & learning from more than 35 federal agencies. Thousands of topics can be searched -- the Civil War, the Constitution, photosynthesis, condensation, immigration, Picasso, Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Mary Cassatt, Jackie Robinson, the Amistad Case, the America Reads Challenge, famous FBI cases, cartography, genealogy, the Renaissance, calculus simulations, "today in history," the human genome project, epidemiology, "the African American odyssey," the solar system, the microbe zoo, and others. Resources can also be viewed in 12 subject areas.

"More than 35 federal agencies have collaborated for nearly a year on this effort," Riley said. "Their work -- this web site - - offers a glimpse of how government can use technology to serve citizens in ways barely dreamed of a decade ago."

The FREE site was developed in response to a directive President Clinton issued nearly a year ago. It can help make compelling online resources available in every school, which is part of the president's Technology Literacy Challenge. The four goals of this challenge are:
  • All teachers will be trained to help students learn through computers & the information superhighway;
  • All students & teachers will have access to modern computers;
  • All schools & classrooms will be linked to the information superhighway; and,
  • High-quality software & online resources will be part of the curriculum in every school.
"FREE is just a first step," Riley said. "And it is more than just another web site. It is a place where federal agencies & teachers can begin forming partnerships to develop additional high-quality, standards-based resources for teaching & learning."

To that end, the Education Department today announced support for up to seven partnerships of federal agencies & teachers, as well as other organizations. Each partnership will develop two products:
  • A set of Internet-based learning resources organized around a particular topic & tied to challenging academic standards. A set of resources might include, for instance, student activities, teaching ideas, primary documents, artifacts, scientific tools, and data sets; and,
  • An Internet-based learning community -- a community of teachers, students & others who use & contribute to that set of resources.
Proposals must be submitted by federal agencies on behalf of each partnership & must be received by May 19, 1998. The invitation requesting proposals & the complete application are at:

http://www.ed.gov/free/980406.html

Teachers & organizations interested in participating are invited to post a message on the "Looking for Partners" area of the FREE web site, at:

http://www.ed.gov/free/partner.html

Federal agencies & organizations contributing to the FREE web site:
  1. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
  2. Agency for International Development
  3. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
  4. Consumer Product Safety Commission
  5. Corporation for National Service
  6. Department of Agriculture
  7. Department of Army
  8. Department of Commerce
  9. Department of Defense
  10. Department of Education
  11. Department of Energy
  12. Department of Health & Human Services
  13. Department of Housing & Urban Development
  14. Department of Interior
  15. Department of Justice
  16. Department of Labor
  17. Department of State
  18. Department of Transportation
  19. Department of the Treasury
  20. Environmental Protection Agency
  21. Federal Emergency Management Agency
  22. Federal Maritime Commission
  23. General Services Administration
  24. High Performance Computing & Communication
  25. Kennedy Center
  26. Library of Congress
  27. National Aeronautics & Space Administration
  28. National Archives & Records Administration
  29. National Endowment for the Arts
  30. National Endowment for the Humanities
  31. National Gallery of Art
  32. National Park Service
  33. National Science Foundation
  34. National Security Agency
  35. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
  36. Office of Personnel Management
  37. Peace Corps
  38. Securities & Exchange Commission
  39. Smithsonian Institution
  40. Social Security Administration
  41. U.S. Geological Survey
  42. U.S. Information Agency
  43. U.S. International Trade Commission
  44. U.S. Postal Service
  45. The White House


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© 1998 America Tomorrow, Inc.
Page created April 10, 1998