For School Librarians: US Dept. of Education Regional Advisory Committee (RAC)

The U.S. Department of Education has formed 10 Regional Advisory Committees (RACs) to advise the U.S. Secretary of Education on thetechnical assistance needs of states, school districts, and schools as they implement the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The 10 committees-made up of state education agency representatives, parents, local education agency representatives, educators, business executives, and researchers-are charged with conducting regional education needs assessments and recommending technical assistance priorities in their regions.

Each RAC will submit a report to the secretary of education in March 2005, that will help the U.S. Department of Education establish fundingpriorities for 20 new technical assistance centers that will replace the 15 existing Comprehensive Centers, the 10 existing Regional Technology inEducation Consortia, and the 10 existing Eisenhower Regional Math/Science Consortia. The amount of funds appropriated for technical assistance will remain at roughly $57 million. The competition for the new centers will be held in the spring and summer of 2005.

You and your colleagues can ensure that your concerns and recommendations will be considered by registering on the RAC Web siteat www.rac-ed.org/ and posting your comments in the public discussion-public hearing area designated for your region, on the following issues:

**** The challenges and needs for assistance in your region as schools, districts and states strive to improve student achievementand implement the requirements of NCLB;

**** The kinds of technical assistance that might help address those needs and challenges; and

**** How federal technical assistance providers in particular might best contribute to addressing education and technical assistanceneeds.

By registering at the site you can provide comments that will be considered by the RAC in your region when it produces its report, viewand listen to online public regional meetings, and receive e-bulletins with updates on regional information and events. The dates of online publicregional meetings and other events are provided on the Web site in the "Activities and Events" link.

We hope that you take the time to help shape the technical assistance provided to your region by visiting the Web site at www.rac-ed.org/.

******************The regions are as follows:

Southeast: Alabama, Fla, GA, Mississippi, NC and SC

Southwest: Arkansas, LA, NM, OK, and TX

West: Arizona, CA, Nevada, and UT

Appalachia: KY, TN, VA, and WV

Northeast: CT, Maine, Massachusetts, NH, NY, Rhode Island, Vermont,Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands

Mid Atlantic: Delaware, MD, NJ, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC

Mid Continent: Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, ND, SD, andWyoming

North Central: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, andWisconsin

Northwest: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington

Pacific: Hawaii, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern MarianaIslands, Federated Stes of Micronesia, Guam, Republic of MarshallIslands and Republiv of Palau