If there was any doubt that change was in the air on Capitol Hill shortly after the inauguration ceremonies, those doubts were blown away in the first hours of meetings between the NCTE Government Relations Platform Writing Team and key legislative staffers on January 29. This was our fourth consecutive year of travelling to Washington, D.C., early in the Congressional term to learn more about legislative or regulatory measures that could influence literacy education and establish priorities, but this time things were qualitatively different. The scale of support for pragmatic, progressive change in literacy education practices was significant—staggering, really. After three days of meetings and careful drafting to zero in on the issues where Council action can prove influential, the 2009 Legislative Platform was ready.
Three weeks later, during a meeting in Orlando, Florida, the NCTE Executive Committee adopted the Platform. It will guide NCTE’s efforts in 2009 to forge meaningful reforms to support literacy teachers and students, and to abandon failed policies which punished schools and families in great need.
Platform Highlights
The thrust of our platform is to encourage Congress to take a comprehensive approach to supporting literacy learning. It is grounded in the need to provide every student with the kinds of rich learning challenges that will imbue them with the critical communicative and analytic abilities referenced in our definition of 21st century literacies. To accomplish this, it sets out ambitious literacy education reform criteria for Congress and other federal authorities. It urges the adoption of a comprehensive literacy plan that:
- Features a new approach to assessment, focusing on in-depth portraits of student learning over time, and professional development for educators so they can better understand how to craft instruction on the basis of assessment data to meet the nuanced needs of learners.
- Is grounded in an inclusive definition of scientifically valid research that grounds policy in what we know about literacy learning from a range of sound research methodologies.
- Advances writing and reading as equal, interdependent components of literacy development.
- Improves support for English Language Learners and the youngest literacy learners (those under age five).
- Increases the supply of outstanding literacy educators through systematic, job-embedded professional development, including dedicated time in the school day for teacher learning.
Making it Happen
With these powerful goals established, staff is working earnestly to build the coalitions and partnerships needed to get change enacted. While we are tracking many legislative, regulatory, and research measures, there are three primary pillars to our government relations strategy this year:
1) Work with allied literacy groups to put together a bill (either as a component of reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act or as a free-standing measure) that funds comprehensive literacy planning at the state and district levels. These plans would embrace the goals of our platform for serving all learners and providing real professional development support, but would do so inclusively, advancing literacy learning across disciplines and scholastic levels. As of this writing we are making steady progress towards introduction of such a measure and foresee a call to action later this year in support of it.
2) Inform our members and their departments/districts of how American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding (stimulus monies) and other sources of federal support can be used to access NCTE resources and other high quality teacher learning materials to systematically advance teacher learning over time.
3) Build broad support for a congressional measure to establish October 20, 2009 as the National Day on Writing.
The latter measure is intended as something more than a pat on the back for writing teachers. If the powerful, everyday role that writing plays in learning is to be fully understood, a broad swath of our society must begin to appreciate how ubiquitous and important the craft of writing has become. While recent survey data indicates that many students and adults see writing as more important to future success than ever, few have considered the policy implications of this transformation. By working through the grassroots of our professional community to establish a virtual National Gallery of Writing and celebrating a National Day on Writing (October 20, 2009) with participatory events across the country, we can make important strides.
Carpe Diem
Now is the time to seize the moment. There will be multiple invitations to action this year as part of a coordinated strategy to deepen public understanding of what is really important in advancing literacy. Already, through a coordinated series of report releases and press conferences in Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco, NCTE is working to change the conversation about what it means to be literate in the 21st century. In the next phase, leading up to the National Day on Writing, these public conversations must gain resonance in communities across the country. And fortunately, NCTE members have the deep knowledge, persuasive skills and conviction to make this strategy work.
April is “Literacy Education Advocacy Month,” and I hope that you will choose to play an active role. In weeks to come, NCTE staff will be in touch with assistive resources and invitations to take action at the school, city, state, and national levels. You may be surprised how powerful it can be to simply share stories about how your students grow as literacy learners, and what can be done to advance their progress. This is the time to make sure that our voice is heard, so don’t hesitate to ask for assistance in reaching out to those who influence policy in our schools and society.