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Literacy Is the Foundation of Education, Work, and Civic Life

Tell Congress That Literacy Should Be a Priority
in Federal Support for Education

Fellow educators, we have the opportunity to make sure our priorities are included in the revised Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). As Congress negotiates the language of the new law, also known as No Child Left Behind (ESEA/NCLB), you can make a difference by writing your representatives today. Persuade Congress that literacy is the foundation of education, work, and civic life -- it should be a priority in federal support for education.

Using our easy-to-use template, send a letter to your members of Congress: tell them that our students deserve (1) comprehensive literacy education programs; (2) equitable learning opportunities; and (3) assessments that enhance learning. Ask Congress to include the following:

Funding for comprehensive literacy programs for students and professional learning for teachers that includes protected time for collaboration.
Title I funds devoted to schools and districts that serve the most low-income students and to programs that build the capacity of such schools to make sustained improvements.
Funding for research, professional learning, and teacher preparation to support assessments for learning and innovation in assessments for accountability.
Use the form below to persuade your members of Congress that literacy is critical to all Americans. Please feel free to use the language we have drafted and add your own personal message within the letter.

Phone: Call your legislators with the messages on each of the topics listed above:

Contact the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, give your zip code, and the operator will connect you to your legislator’s office (you will need to repeat this to contact all three of your legislators). Please leave the message above. You can do this 24 hours a day and leave a voice mail if necessary.

Tweet: Send your legislators messages on each of the topics listed above:

Search Twitter for your Senators and Representatives, then send your tweets; be sure to include your city and state so they know you are a constituent.

posted 2/27/15

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Help Make a Difference in Education Policy This Week

Please Write, Phone, or Tweet Your Senators and Representative

to ask support for defining professional learning in the following way: “professional learning through educator collaboration.”

Such collaboration requires protected time in the school day so that teachers can generate curricula, examine student work, share results of their own assessments of student learning, and benefit from one another's expertise.

to ask that policymakers support the professional expertise of teachers.

Because they know their subject matter and their students, teachers should select materials, develop curricula, and decide teaching strategies, including and especially during this time of new standards. Teachers should also generate and use their own formative assessments to continuously track student learning.

to ask that institutions of higher education be evaluated on multiple bases and with multiple kinds of evidence.

Ratings of institutional effectiveness risk being inaccurate and even dangerous if they rely only on graduation rates and salaries of graduates. The following template letter makes the case for more valid evaluation through kinds of evidence that demonstrate institutional practices contributing to important values and benefits of a college education.

Write: Add your personal experience to these letters that we've drafted for you on each of the topics listed above:

Phone: Call your legislators with the messages on each of the topics listed above:

Contact the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, give your zip code, and the operator will connect you to your legislator’s office (you will need to repeat this to contact all three of your legislators). Please leave the message above. You can do this 24 hours a day and leave a voice mail if necessary.

Tweet: Send your legislators messages on each of the topics listed above:

Search Twitter for your Senators and Representatives, then send your tweets; be sure to include your city and state so they know you are a constituent.

Sample tweets:

@SenatorDurbin, From Urbana, IL: Teachers need school time to collaborate
@ RodneyDavis, From Urbana, IL: Support the professional expertise of teachers
@SenatorKirk, From Urbana, IL: Valid evaluation of higher education institutions requires multiple kinds of evidence

Contact your legislators with the messages on each of the topics listed above:

Phone: Find your Senator’s phone number and Congressional representative’s phone number

Social Media: Find social media contacts for Members of Congress

Educating legislative staff and members of Congress is important work
and you can make a difference!

The message you send from home will resonate with legislators when NCTE Literacy Education Advocacy Day participants visit their offices on the Hill on February 27.

posted 2/25/14

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Please Let Your Members of Congress Know

that teachers need time during the school day for collaboration and

that machines cannot validly assess student writing.

Call your legislators. Contact the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, give your zip code, and the operator will connect you to your legislator’s office (you will need to repeat this to contact all three of your legislators). Please leave the message above. You can do this 24 hours a day and leave a voice mail if necessary.

Ask your Senators and Representative

to support the most crucial element in effective literacy instruction: time for structured collaboration for educators to implement the comprehensive literacy learning included in LEARN, Striving Readers, and the Common Core State Standards.
and
to not support assessment practices that rely wholly or in part on machine scoring of writing for high stakes outcomes because machine scoring cannot validly assess student writing.

Tweet your legislators. Go to Tweet Congress. Enter your information to see the list of names of your congressional delegation who are on Twitter. Go to Twitter, log in, and tweet to the policymakers; be sure to include your city and state so they know you are a constituent.

Sample tweets:
@SenatorDurbin, From Urbana, IL: Teachers need school time to collaborate http://bit.ly/Z0D44v
@ RodneyDavis, From Urbana, IL: Machines can’t validly assess student writing http://bit.ly/17jqDkd

Educating legislative staff and members of Congress is important work
and you can make a difference!

The message you send from home will resonate with legislators when NCTE Literacy Education Advocacy Day participants visit their offices on the Hill on April 18.

posted 4/16/13

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Help Make a Difference in Education Policy This Week

Let your Members of Congress know your support of important issues that affect education, pre-K-higher ed. Take action now through April 20, 2012, on the following issues, right from your own computer or phone:

Teacher Evaluation
Formative Assessment
Humanities
Pell Grants & Stafford Loans
Comprehensive Literacy Learning

Ask Your Members of Congress to Support Teacher Evaluation
Based on Multiple Factors

Please take time to ask your Senators and Representative to support teacher evaluation based on multiple factors and not just students’ standardized test scores. Research shows that effective evaluation connects teacher learning and professional development as well as student achievement; indicates that evaluators need to know about school context; and suggests that value-added measures lack validity.

To call: Contact the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, give your zip code and the operator will connect you to your legislator’s office (you will need to repeat this to contact all three of your legislators). Please leave the message above. You can do this 24 hours a day and leave a voice mail if necessary.