Reaching out to Teachers

We've got many current and former teachers who work with us here at ED in '08, and they are always quick to remind us that teachers can be powerful voices for change, perhaps even more so than the unions that represent them. ED in '08 is reaching out to teachers in a couple different ways today.

First, Adam Thibault, our senior policy analyst, is speaking to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), briefing that organization on some of our policy pillars as the NCTE works to draft their 2008 legislative platform. I'll be interested to hear the NCTE's reaction and discussion of issues like performance pay and American education standards.

Also today, ED in '08 will be on the ground in Orlando, Florida, at the Florida Educational Technology Conference, one of the largest annual gatherings of educators in the country. We'll be screening the documentary "Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination" for the teachers there, hosting a discussion for their reactions and meeting with educators to talk about ED in '08's mission.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, and in the meantime I encourage educators who are interested in ED in '08 to sign up and become part of our movement. Teachers need to be an integral part of the process of reforming our schools, and the presidential candidates must recognize that in order to earn their votes.

Comments

[Becky Thompson]

As a public school teacher, I am appalled at what is being and has been done for educational reform. There are some salient points I would like to mention.

1. Education begins at home. Students that aren't talked to, read to, and taught as infants and toddlers enter our education system behind without the skills they need to succeed. My granddaughter will be entering kindergarten in the fall. She can tell you her full name, address and phone number and has been able to do so since she was two. She can recite and write the alphabet, has learned to sound out small words, can do addition and subtraction, count to 100, and has quite a vocabulary of Spanish words. She is not a genius. Her mother taught her these things. Her mother is not a genius.

This need for education at home does not stop at the door of the school. Parents should continue actively educating their children throughout their life-span. Dumping kids at the school and insisting the school raise them does not work.

2. Parents and students need to stop blaming teachers and learn self-responsibility. I have had both marvelous and mediocre teachers in my life, and in both cases I learned when I put forth the effort of my own accord. If I had a dollar for every time I supposedly lost student work or did not help a student or inform them of classroom requirements, I could retire today. Parents need to remember that children (even good ones) will say anything to shift the blame and refuse to accept excuses.

3. The "tests" that we are supposed to prepare students for need to be tied to some kind of consequence. The kids just don't take them seriously because they will be passed on to the next grade anyway.

4. The standardized tests need to be reevaluated, and other factors need to be used to decide whether the students are successfully learning the content.

5. Lastly, as a long-time member of school improvement plan teams, I would like to posit that we spend less time tied to the test because many times the data we use to say a school is need of improvement is flawed rendering the results a useless jumble of figures. Yes, we need to focus on teaching standards. Yes, we need to strive to make every child a success. Yes, we need to throw out NCLB and start all over. When we do, we need to involve educators, parents, administrators, and students in the process to come up with a plan that will come closer to these admirable and necessary goals.