The National Diffusion Network (
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, 1974–1995) was the first federally sponsored effort to identify and spread to America's schools innovative education programs. The program was created administratively by the then-Office of Education in the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
as an effort to make use of the best of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...
Title III education innovations.
The NDN operated successfully, at a congressionally approved appropriations level varying between $8-million and $14-million per year, for 20 years. It, like several other small programs then administered by the
U.S. Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
was eliminated by having its funding stopped by the 105th Congress, under the implementation of a cost-cutting initiative sponsored by new Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich, called the
Contract with America
The Contract with America was a legislative agenda advocated for by the Republican Party during the 1994 congressional election campaign. Written by Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, and in part using text from former President Ronald Reagan's 19 ...
.
There were several components of the National Diffusion Network. The most central were Developer Demonstrators, projects of educational innovations that had been rigorously reviewed and validated by a federal panel, the Joint Dissemination Review Panel. The Developer Demonstration projects, or DDs, offered their professional development and other services to schools and school districts who had need for the specific education reform and improvement innovations.
A catalog listing all the DDs available to schools, Educational Programs That Work was published yearly by Sopris West, a private contractor, and distributed nationally.
A second critical component of the NDN were its state facilitators (SFs). There was at least one SF grantee in each of the 50 states, plus designated agencies in the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories. The role of the SFs was to act as liaisons between schools in their state that had need for assistance and the NDN-approved Developer Demonstrators. Matches were called "program adoptions."
The principal congressional sponsors of the NDN were Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) and Sen.
Claiborne Pell
Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...
(D-RI), both of whom sponsored legislation to maintain and extend the work of the program throughout the nation. When the National Diffusion Network's funding was threatened by
David Stockman
David Alan Stockman (born November 10, 1946) is an American politician and former businessman who was a Republican U.S. Representative from the state of Michigan (1977–1981) and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1981–1985 ...
, OMB director in 1981, during the first year of the
Ronald Reagan administration, personnel staffing National Diffusion Network projects formed a professional advocacy group, the National Dissemination Association. The association was led by Max McConkey, artist, later the chief policy officer at
WestEd
WestEd is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization. The organization's mission states, "WestEd, a research, development, and services agency, works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve lear ...
and board president of Knowledge Alliance. NDA appealed to both Education Secretary
Terrel Bell
Terrel Howard Bell (November 11, 1921June 22, 1996) was the Secretary of Education in the Cabinet of President Ronald Reagan. He was the second Secretary of Education, following Shirley Hufstedler.
Early life and career
Bell was born in Lava H ...
and to Congressman Kildee and Senator Pell. The three collaborated in a successful effort to save the Network.
While the National Diffusion Network officially ended in 1995, many of its innovative programs continue to be disseminated to schools throughout the nation, contributing to the resources used for the implementation of the ESEA reauthorization of 2001—the
No Child Left Behind Act.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)
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Notes
United States educational programs