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By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), the Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2000 (as contained in Public Law 106-113), and in order to take actions to improve low-performing schools, it is hereby ordered as follows:

. Policy. Since 1993, this Administration has sought to raise standards for students and to increase accountability in public education while investing more resources in elementary and secondary schools. While much has been accomplished-there has been progress in math and reading achievement, particularly for low-achieving students and students in our highest poverty schools-much more can be done, especially for low-performing schools.

. Technical Assistance and Capacity Building. (a) The Secretary of Education ("Secretary") shall work with State and local educational agencies ("LEAs") to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for providing technical assistance and other assistance to States and LEAs to strengthen their capacity to improve the performance of schools identified as low performing. This comprehensive strategy shall include a number of steps, such as:

(1) providing States, school districts, and schools receiving funds from the school improvement fund established by Public Law 106-113, as well as other districts and schools identified for school improvement or corrective action under Title I of the ESEA, with access to the latest research and information on best practices, including research on instruction and educator professional development, and with the opportunity to learn from exemplary schools and exemplary State and local intervention strategies and from each other, in order to improve achievement for all students in the low-performing schools;

(2) determining effective ways of providing low-performing schools with access to resources from other Department of Education programs, such as funds from the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program, the Reading Excellence Act, the Eisenhower Professional Development Program, the Class Size Reduction Program, and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, and to make effective use of these funds and Title I funds;

(3) providing States and LEAs with information on effective strategies to improve the quality of the teaching force, including strategies for recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers in high-poverty schools, and implementing research-based professional development programs aligned with challenging standards;

(4) helping States and school districts build partnerships with technical assistance providers, including, but not limited to, federally funded laboratories and centers, foundations, businesses, community-based organizations, institutions of higher education, reform model providers, and other organizations that can help local schools improve;