The 1990s Education: Headline Makers

Walter H. Annenberg (1908–) Walter H. Annenberg, philanthropist and publisher, placed his extraordinary wealth firmly behind American public schools in 1993 when he announced the Annenberg Challenge Grant. The program provided five hundred million dollars in matching grants to public elementary and secondary schools across the country to improve the effectiveness of public education. It helped initiate reform in some of the nation's largest and most troubled school districts, as well as rural schools. By 1998, more than two thousand schools with nearly 1.5 million students had been involved in the Annenberg Challenge.

Marian Wright Edelman (1939–) Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, has devoted her entire life to improving the welfare of children. Through her organization, she has tried to focus national attention on issues such as child health care, teen pregnancy, and others. In June 1996, Edelman played a major role in the formation and presentation of the first annual Stand for Children rally held in Washington, D.C. More than three thousand people attended the event.

Bill Nye (1955–) Bill Nye started hosting a zany half-hour television program, Bill Nye the Science Guy, on Public Broadcasting System (PBS) channels across the nation in 1993. Although aimed at fourth graders, it appealed to people of all ages. In a format filled with "cool" music, stunts, and flashy graphics, the program took one important scientific concept each episode and used it as the learning objective for that show. Interviews with "way cool" scientists and bizarre demonstrations of how science is applied in everyday life became hallmarks of Nye's critically acclaimed show.

Richard W. Riley (1933–) Richard W. Riley became secretary of education under President Bill Clinton in 1993. He immediately set about developing a national education system driven by high academic standards. He focused on improving public schools, showing little support for vouchers or other incentives for parents to move their children to private schools. Riley asserted that the improvement of public education was dependent on the elevation of teaching to the status of a first-class profession. Among his many proposals was a three-step system for the preparation of teachers similar to that required of doctors: internship, residency, and certification.