INTRODUCTION OF THE EDUCATING AMERICA'S GIRLS ACT OF 1999, H.R. 2505 -- HON. DALE E. KILDEE (Extensions of Remarks - July 14, 1999)

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HON. DALE E. KILDEE OF MICHIGAN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1999

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce The Educating America's Girls Act of 1999, or the Girls Act, along with Representatives NANCY JOHNSON, WILLIAM CLAY, CONNIE MORELLA, LYNN WOOLSEY, and many of my other colleagues today.
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In 1994, I worked very closely with the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE) to ensure that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) responded to gender-related differences in educational needs in order for each student to reach his or her full educational potential. Due to the changes adopted in the 1994 ESEA reauthorization, gender equity is a major theme throughout the current ESEA including: requiring professional development activities to meet the needs of diverse students, including girls; encouraging professional development and recruitment activities to increase the numbers of women math and science teachers; having sexual harassment and abuse as a focus of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act; and reauthorizing the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA), which funds research and programs to achieve educational equity for women.

The Girls Act responds to findings in the 1998 AAUW Educational Foundation Report, Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children, which identified a number of areas where the educational needs of girls are still unmet. The Girls Act seeks to prepare girls for the future by: employing technology to compensate for different learning styles and exposing technology to disadvantaged groups, including girls; reducing the incidence of sexual harassment and abuse in schools; gathering data on the participation of girls in high school athletics programs; keeping pregnant and parenting teens in school; and reauthorizing the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA).

Education technology, which is being increasingly integrated into the curriculum of schools, is a new arena in which we must ensure that girls are not at a disadvantage. While the gaps in math and science achievement have narrowed for girls in the past six years, a major new gender gap in technology has emerged. While boys program and problem-solve with computers, girls use them for word processing--the 1990s version of typing. Little attention has been given to how the computer technology gender gap may impact girls' and boys' educational development. We need to dismantle the virtual ceiling now, before it becomes a real-life barrier to girls' futures.

Gender Gaps found that girls, when compared to boys, are at a significant disadvantage as technology is increasingly incorporated into the classroom. Girls tend to come to the classroom with less exposure to computers and other technology, and girls believe that they are less adept at using technology than boys. Girls tend to have a more ``circumscribed, limited, and cautious'' interaction with technology than boys. Schools can assist girls in developing a confident relationship with technology by intergrating digital tools into the curriculum so girls can pursue their own interests.

Gender Gaps warned that gender differences in the uses of technology must be explored and equity issues addressed now, before bigger gaps develop as computers become an integral part of teaching and learning in the K-12 curriculum. This is especially true considering that by the year 2000, 65 percent of all jobs will require technology skills. Current law lacks assurances that federal education programs will compensate for girls' different learning styles and different exposures to technology. I believe that federal education technology programs should be designed to better prepare girls for their future careers. The Girls Act requires states and local school districts to incorporate technology requirements in teacher training content and performance standards, to provide training for teachers in the use of education technology, and to take into special consideration the different learning styles and different exposures to technology for girls.

Sexual harrassment and abuse is a serious issue for the education of women and girls and should be a focus in the broader context of safety in our schools. The vast majority of secondary school students experience some form of sexual harassment during their school lives, with girls disproportionately affected. Sexual harassment is widespread and affects female students at all levels of education, including those in elementary and secondary schools. The AAUW Educational Foundation's 1993 survey of 8th through 11th grade students on sexual harassment in schools, Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in America's Schools, shows that the vast majority of secondary school students experienced some form of sexual harassment and that girls are disproportionately affected. While data on the incidence of sexual harassment is scant, Hostile Hallways found: 85 percent of girls experienced some form of sexual harassment; 65 percent of girls who have been harassed were harassed in the classroom and 73 percent of girls who have been harassed were harassed in the hallway of their school; a student's first experience of sexual harassment is most likely to occur in 6th to 9th grade; most girls were harrassed by a male acting alone or a group of males; and 81 percent of girls who have been harassed do not report it to adults.

A 1996 University of Michigan study showed that sexual harrassment can result in academic problems such as paying less attention in class and Hostile Hallways found that 32 percent of girls do not want to talk as much in class after experiencing harassment. Thirty-three percent of girls do not want to go to school at all due to the stress and anxiety they suffered as a result of the sexual harassment. Nearly 1 in 4 girls say that harassment caused them to stay home from school or cut a class.

We know little else about the extent of sexual harassment or even the nature and extent of more serious sexual crimes in schools. The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA) requires the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to collect data on violence in elementary and secondary schools in the United States. However, these reports provide only a very limited picture of sexual offenses in schools because they only capture data on rape or sexual battery reported to police. Further, school crime victimization surveys do not include questions on threats or abuse that are sexual in nature.

Sexual harassment in schools is illegal, a form of sexual discrimination banned under Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972. On the 25th anniversary of Title IX, a report by NCWGE found that less progress was made in the area of sexual harassment than in any other gender equity issue in education. NCWGE concluded that few schools have sexual harassment policies, or effectively enforce them. In addition to calling for more intensified Office of Civil Rights enforcement, NCWGE called on schools to adopt comprehensive policies and programs addressing sexual harassment.

The Girls Act affords an opportunity to greatly reduce the incidence of sexual harassment by gathering data on these often hidden offenses and providing programs to prevent sexual harassment and abuse. As 65 percent of sexual harassment in schools occurs in the classroom, the Girls Act trains teachers and administrators to recognize sexual harassment and develop prevention policies to greatly reduce incidences of sexual harassment and abuse in schools.

Equal access to education for girls means equal access to opportunities for athletic participation in our schools, particularly our high schools. Unfortunately, nationwide data measuring the participation of girls in physical education and high school athletics programs is very limited. Data on girls' participation in physical education and high school athletics programs must be collected and regularly reported by the U.S. Department of Education in order to determine whether girls are fully participating in these activities. Participation in high school athletics programs is important for girls because research has shown that it improves girls' physical and mental health. Additionally, for some girls, high school athletic participation can translate into college scholarships. However, currently there is very little data on high school athletic opportunities for girls to ensure that girls' interests are being met.

A study by the President's Council on Physical fitness and Sports recently found that girls playing sports have better physical and emotional health than those who do not. The study also found that higher rates of athletic participation were associated with lower rates of sexual activity and pregnancy. Other studies link physical activity to lower rates of heart disease, breast cancer, and osteoporosis later in life. Sports build girls' confidence, sense of physical empowerment, and social recognition within the school and community.

Many girls who participate in high school athletics programs receive college scholarships. Girls who have pursued athletic opportunities have received solid encouragement from parents, coaches, and teachers. By participating in high school athletics programs, girls increase their chances at receiving a college scholarship. For many girls, a college scholarship is the only way they can pursue higher education. The Girls Act requires the National Center on Education Statistics to collect data on the participation of high school students in physical education and athletics programs by gender.

Education is the means for all girls, including pregnant and parenting teens, to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Despite strides in making education accessible to girls, dropping out of school remains a serious problem. Five out of every 100 young adults enrolled in high school remains a serious problem. Five out of every 100 young adults enrolled in high school in 1996 left school without successfully completing a high school program. In October of 1997, 3.6 million young adults, or 11 percent of young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 in the United States, were neither enrolled in a high school program nor had they completed high school. Girls who drop out are less likely than boys to return and complete school.
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Twenty-five years after the enactment of Title IX, pregnancy and parenting are still the most commonly cited reasons why girls drop out of school. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any industrialized nation. Almost one million teenagers become pregnant each year and 80 percent of these pregnancies are unintended. Two-thirds of girls who give birth before age 18 will not complete high school. Further, the younger the adolescent is when she becomes pregnant, the more likely it is that she will not complete high school. The Girls Act strengthens support for programs to keep pregnant and parenting teens in school to earn a high school diploma.

Finally, the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA) represents the federal commitment to helping schools eradicate sex discrimination from their programs and practices and to ensuring that girls' future choices and success are determined not be their gender, but by their own interests, aspirations, and abilities. Since its inception in 1974, WEEA has funded research, development, and dissemination of curricular materials; training programs; guidance and testing activities; and other projects to combat inequitable educational practices. The Girls Act reauthorizes WEEA.

Mr. Speaker, up to this point I have primarily focused my efforts on strengthening accountability, teacher quality, class-size reduction and school safety, but I intend to seed the incorporation of many of the Girls Act provisions in our efforts to reauthorize ESEA. By working together, we can ensure that the educational needs of both boys and girls are met in the 1999 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act so that the adults of tomorrow will be prepared to compete in the ever-changing global economy of the 21st century.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to introduce the Educating America's Girls Act of 1999 today and urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.
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