Third annual series of veterans town halls to coincide with July 4th holiday

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack announced that he will host a series of veterans town halls on his Serving Those Who Served tour with stops across the Second District. These forums will give veterans and their families an opportunity to speak directly with Loebsack. Staff will also be on hand for veterans to seek assistance if they are having issues with the Veterans Administration, or any Federal agency. At each stop, Loebsack will be joined by representatives from local Veteran Service Organizations, County Veterans Affairs Officers and other groups.

"As Iowans come together to celebrate the birth of our nation, we must take time to remember those men and women who fought for the freedoms we treasure. As a military parent and member of the House Armed Services Committee, I take great pride in Serving Those Who Served. I strongly believe that there is no greater responsibility we have as a nation than to ensure our servicemembers have the support, equipment, and training they need to safely carry out their mission and that we care for our veterans with the same dignity and honor with which they served. I look forward to meeting with veterans and their families to discuss issues important to them and provide any assistance my office can help with."

Loebsack will hold forums in Muscatine, Iowa City, Ottumwa, Ft. Madison, Burlington, Newton, Knoxville, Davenport, Clinton and Washington. This is the third year that Loebsack has hosted town halls specifically for veterans around the July 4th holiday. Veterans, their families and media are invited to attend.

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BETTENDORF, IA - After 20 years, Run with Carl organizers are lacing up their racing shoes one final time for the Labor Day Tradition.

"We've had a good run - no pun intended, and it's simply time for the race to come to an end," said Dick Schillig, race co-chair and father of Carl, who started the race to raise funds for a scholarship in his son's name.

Race organizers and the Schillig family would like to reach a record number of racers this year with a goal of 1,500 runners.

"It would be nice to finish on a high note as a special tribute to Carl and all of the community organizations, volunteers, sponsors and participants who have made the scholarship fund possible," said Juanita Schillig, race co-chair and mother of Carl.

The Carl D. Schillig Memorial Scholarship to assist Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley High School graduating seniors with college funding. The scholarship fund will continue thanks to many years of community support for the race. 2014 marks the 29th and 30th scholarships to be awarded.

The 2014 scholarship recipients are Kierstyn Feld, Pleasant Valley High School, and Tyler Henson, Bettendorf High School. Ms. Feld plans to attend Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and Mr. Henson will attend Maryville University in St. Louis, MO.

Runners can participate in the 20th anniversary final Run with Carl on Labor Day in Bettendorf, IA.

About the 20th Anniversary Final Run with Carl

The Bettendorf Rotary's Run with Carl will be held on Monday, September 1st. The 5 Mile Run and the 5K run/walk and 1/2 and 1-mile fun runs for children 12 and under start and finish at the Bettendorf Life Center (2222 Middle Rd., Bettendorf). Awards will immediately follow the races. The course remains the same as in previous years. Early bird entry fees are good through August 1st. Fees are $20 for the 5K Run/Walk or 5 Mile Run for no t-shirt and $25 for the 5K Run/Walk or 5 Mile Run with a t-shirt. The youth entry fee for the ½ and 1-mile fun run is $10.

If registered before August 1st, participants will be entered into a drawing for a free bike from Healthy Habits.

Race Day registrants are not eligible for awards so pre-registration is encouraged. Participants may register online only at runwithcarl.com.

About Carl D. Schillig

Carl Schillig was 15 years old when he was killed in a car-pedestrian accident in 1994. Carl was active in a variety of community, school and church activities. In commemoration of his life, the Run With Carl Walk/Run attracts participants to the challenging, but scenic course following city streets, neighborhoods and the Bettendorf Recreation Path.

For more information or to register, visit the website at runwithcarl.com or find them on Facebook by searching for "Run with Carl."

About the Bettendorf Rotary: The Bettendorf Rotary Club was chartered in 1957. The group meets every Wednesday at noon at Fortune Garden Restaurant (2211 South Kimberly Road, Bettendorf). They are the Title Sponsor of Run with Carl.

About the Carl D. Schillig Memorial Fund, Inc.: The Carl D. Schillig Memorial Fund was established in 1995 in memory of Carl Schillig who was killed at the age of 15 in a car-pedestrian accident. The fund provides a $4000 college scholarship to graduates of Pleasant Valley High School - which Carl attended - and Bettendorf High School graduates. With Carl's philanthropy as its inspiration, the nonprofit also distributes proceeds from the run to organizations in which Carl was active, including the Bettendorf Pleasant Valley Aquatics, the Cornbelt Running Club, and Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

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Good morning, Chairman Rokita, Chairman Meehan, and Ranking Member Clarke. I'd like to thank you for holding today's hearing and thank our witnesses for being here.

More than ever before, technology plays an essential role in educating our children. Technology-based educational tools and platforms offer important new capabilities for students and teachers at both the K-12 and university levels.

The increasing number of educational iPad and iPhone apps, online study tools, and engagement programs illustrate the growing abundance of tech resources that are being used to meet students' individual learning needs.

These educational tools generate tremendous amounts of data that are instrumental in improving a student's learning experience. Data allows teachers to quickly identify and address gaps in student understanding before they fall behind.  And by making data available to parents, they can track their child's progress and participate more fully in their education.

Beyond addressing the needs of individual students, data aids schools in their institutional and administrative functions. School and district leaders rely on data to drive improvement and decision-making around curriculum, technology infrastructure, and staffing.

The availability of new types of data also improves researchers' ability to learn about learning. Data from a student's experience in technology-based learning platforms can be precisely tracked, opening the door to more accurately understanding how students move through a curriculum, and at greater scale, than traditional education research is able to achieve.

As data systems become more integrated into the learning and teaching process, we are seeing the impact that they can have on students, teachers, administrators, and policymakers. These systems enable teachers, schools, and districts to make more informed decisions to enhance student learning.

Meanwhile, a growing number of online educational services have the ability to enhance learning within the classroom and extend it beyond the school day. Edmodo, which is used by more than 20 million teachers and students worldwide, allows teachers to set up virtual classrooms and then post homework assignments and other content to extend lessons. Khan Academy has more than 5,000 instructional videos and assessments, which allow students of all ages to learn at their own pace in subject areas ranging from pre-algebra to differential equations, from art history to computer science.

With this explosion in online resources, there is a large amount of new data being generated by children using these services, which raises valid privacy concerns.

The privacy of student education records is protected under FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. When those student education records are hosted or analyzed by private companies that are helping districts build data systems to drive improvement, those same FERPA protections still apply.

However, when students use online services like Khan Academy?in school or at home?or when teachers use grade and behavior tracking software on their iPads, all of that data are not necessarily covered by FERPA. In those direct interactions between students and software companies, data are being collected to build user profiles, individualize the learning experience, and track progress, but in the cases where FERPA does not apply, it is not always clear what protections exist to guarantee the privacy of those data and ensure companies are not using them to target advertisements at children.

This committee will hear important testimony today about the value that these tailored technological resources provide to students themselves and the importance of ensuring access to data for teachers and researchers seeking to improve education. We'll also hear about the need for consistent privacy policies and current efforts to guarantee the security and privacy of student data.

As we examine the privacy concerns prompted by the rapidly growing education technology sector and the information it collects, it's clear that we must strive to find a balance between privacy and innovation. We must ensure that companies involved in collecting and analyzing student data are not exploiting students' private information for marketing purposes or financial gain.

Data are an invaluable tool. Data empowers teachers, guides individualized learning, and informs policy. As we consider where improvements are needed in privacy regulations, we must be sure that we do not compromise the value of student data.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.

Thank you very much.

Committee on Education and the Workforce Democrats

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The U.S. - Japan Council Honors Senator Daniel K. Inouye with the "TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars Program," Launched as a part of the Government of Japan's KAKEHASHI Project

 

WASHINGTON, DC (June 23, 2014)--This summer, nearly 100 college students from four American universities will travel to Japan on a ten-day educational exchange program as the inaugural cohort of TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars.

The program was created in honor of the late U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, who believed that the relationship between the United States and Japan was the most important bilateral relationship in the world.  His commitment to public service, justice and U.S.-Japan cooperation inspired this program, which provides 200 American and Japanese university students the opportunity to develop a deeper mutual understanding of each other's cultures and people. The participants will also learn about Senator Inouye and his contributions to his state, country, heritage and the U.S.-Japan relationship. The program aims to broaden the perspectives of global leaders who will carry the future of U.S.-Japan exchange.

The U.S.-Japan Council (USJC), a non-profit, Japanese American-led organization dedicated to strengthening ties between the United States and Japan in a global context, supports the TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars program as a part of the KAKEHASHI Project. Senator Inouye, along with other Japanese American leaders, created the Council in late 2008. The program is also part of the TOMODACHI Initiative, a public-private partnership between USJC and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, which builds a new generation of American and Japanese young people through cross-cultural educational exchanges and leadership development.

"The Senator had an optimism and confidence in the next generation's ability to continue to make the world better," Irene Hirano Inouye, President of USJC who was also the wife of the Senator, said. "He was a strong supporter of TOMODACHI's vision of investing in young people in the United States and Japan to create the next generation of leaders in our countries."

This program is carried out under the Government of Japan's KAKEHASHI Project. The KAKEHASHI Project is a youth exchange project between Japan, the United States and Canada that aims to heighten interest in Japan and increase the number of overseas visitors to the country, as well as enhance international understanding of the nation's strengths and attractiveness. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida announced the launch of the program at the USJC Japan Symposium in May 2013.

The program is unique in that participants from the United States and Japan will learn about Japanese Americans, their history in the United States, and examples of their leadership in the legacy of Senator Inouye as well as through engagement with Japanese American leaders who are USJC members.

USJC selected four universities in the United States to participate in this program. Each American school is paired with a Japanese partner institution as follows:

• Depaul University, (Chicago, IL) ----- Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto) 
• Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, CA) ----- Sophia University (Tokyo)
• University of Massachusetts Boston (Boston, MA) --- TBD
• University of Hawaii, Manoa (Honolulu, HI) ---- Matsuyama University (Ehime)

Each school group consists of 23 students and 2 chaperones, one of whom is a faculty member, who are noted Japanese Americans in their field.

"I believe that the TOMODACHI SCHOLAR universities selected for this honor share a commitment to Senator Inouye's legacy in public service," said Dr. Kathryn Ibata-Arens, Director of Global Asian Studies who leads the group from DePaul University. "DePaul's mission is built on respect for diversity and service to community. Our DePaul scholars reflect this mission in their own life journeys and extensive expertise in international community service, despite their young ages." 

In addition to visiting historic and cultural sites in Tokyo and attending meetings centered on the legacy of Senator Inouye, each school group will visit one more city, typically that of the partner university and participate in activities with its students. The group from Loyola Marymount University is focusing on leadership and diversity. They have selected student leaders of campus organizations and looking at Senator Inouye's advocacy for disenfranchised or underrepresented groups as a model for leadership.

"As champion of those less fortunate, Senator Inouye's commitment to diversity inspired countless others to the call of service," states the LMU faculty lead Dr. Curtiss T. Rooks. "The program seeks to honor his legacy through the development of LMU student leaders from historically underrepresented populations in our University community."

The reciprocal portion of the program will take place during the 2014-2015 academic year, when 100 Japanese participants will travel to Los Angeles, CA, Washington D.C. and the city of their partner university, each site marking a stage of Senator Inouye's life and career. Japanese students will learn about Senator Inouye's contribution to politics and the Japanese American community while exploring historic and cultural sites in the United States.

"This experience provides students with an opportunity to consider how Hawaii can contribute to US-Japan relations," Dr. Dennis Ogawa, who leads the group from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, said. "Like the students on this program, Senator Inouye was proud to be an undergraduate of the University of Hawaii.  The people-to-people friendships and inter-cultural relationships he experienced were invaluable."

This program is administered by the Japan Foundation. The U.S.-Japan Council supports the implementation of this program, through coordination with the Japan Foundation and the Laurasian Institution. All U.S. participants will complete projects that reflect their understanding of Senator Inouye's legacy through this program, which will be featured by the Daniel K. Inouye Institute.

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The U.S.-Japan Council is a 501(c) 3 non-profit educational organization that contributes to strengthening U.S.-Japan relations by bringing together diverse leadership, engaging stakeholders and exploring issues that benefit communities, businesses and government entities on both sides of the Pacific. By promoting people-to-people relationships, the Japanese American-led organization cultivates an international network, and collaborates with other organizations and institutions to develop programs that allow leaders to engage with their counterparts in the United States and Japan. The Council also develops the next generation of leaders committed to a vibrant and dynamic U.S.-Japan relationship.