Join NCTE in Celebrating Literacy Education Advocacy Month
The NCTE Literacy Education Advocacy Calendar lists possibilities, from sharing NCTE positions with your colleagues to visiting your state lawmakers while they're home in April to taking part in NCTE's Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., on April 23.
Using NCTE's 2009 Legislative Platform to Influence Literacy Education
by Kent Williamson, NCTE Executive Director
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. 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.
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 in the areas of
- assessment;
- an inclusive definition of scientifically valid research;
- writing and reading as equal, interdependent components of literacy development;
- support for English Language Learners and the youngest literacy learners (those under age five); and
- job-embedded professional development.
Making it Happen: With these powerful goals established, 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.
2. Inform our members and their departments/districts of how the 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.
3. Build broad support for a congressional measure to establish October 20, 2009 as the National Day on Writing.
Carpe Diem: Now is the time to seize the moment. Through a coordinated series of report releases and press conferences in Washington, DC, 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. This is the time to make sure that our voice is heard. Read more.
Meet the New Update Editor; Don’t Miss the Chance to Take Part in Advocacy Month
by Fred Barton, Chair, SLATE Steering Committee; Outgoing Editor, SLATE Update
Fred introduces readers to the new editor of SLATE Update, SLATE Steering Committee member Clarissa West-White, and reminds us about Advocacy Day: "This year we are at the beginning of something rather than the end. I realize that everyone can’t go to Washington on the 23rd, and for those of you who can’t, promise me you’ll mark a date on your calendar sometime that month to write, call or visit your Congressperson in his or her local office and add your voice to the voices that spoke out in the last election. The tools for doing that are simple and readily available. This chance is too important to slip through our hands. Read more.
Starting a State Advocacy Day
by Clarissa West-White, Editor, SLATE Update
It took only one trip to NCTE’s Day on the Hill to be bitten by the political bug, recalls Clarissa. After visiting legislative aides to Florida senators and congressional representatives, and being repeatedly told that many of our concerns within the state needed to be addressed at the local level, it was clear that a state advocacy day would be essential to influence policy. And thus it began. Do consider starting your own state or local advocacy day. Read more.
The First Amendment Triumphs in Florida
by ReLeah Cossett Lent and Gloria Pipkin, Florida Council of Teachers of English
Heather Gillman of Ponce de Leon, Florida, then a high school senior, received FCTE's first annual Intellectual Freedom Award and NCTE's Intellectual Freedom Award in 2008; she said that she simply did what she had to do -- defend her friends against an administration that discriminated against those of different sexual orientations. Don’t forget to submit your nominations for this award; the deadline is May 1. Read more.
Call for Book Rationales and Book Adoption Procedures
by Clarissa West-White, Editor, SLATE Update
Book challenges regarding such as Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and Lowry’s The Giver have long raised the ire of parents, but a number of the challenges concerned other published works such as Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Morrison’s Song of Solomon. To this end, we are soliciting rationales for books you have added to your curriculum over the years and are not a part of the two-CD collection of rationales produced by NCTE. Read more.
Critical Policy Resources
NCTE's Action Center
NCTE's Anti-Censorship Center
NCTE Position Statements
NCTE Policy Collections
NCTE Executive Committee Strategic Governance Policies (see "Strategic Governance" at the bottom of the page)
SLATE Website
Congress.org (to find your elected representatives)
Contribute to SLATE
Your donation to SLATE will help us to implement and publicize the policies adopted by NCTE, to support NCTE's anti-censorship work, and to influence public attitudes and policy decisions affecting the teaching of English language arts at local, state, and national levels.
Donations can be made through the NCTE online store or by using the donation form (fax it to 217-278-3761 or mail it to SLATE, c/o NCTE, 1111 W. Kenyon Rd. Urbana, IL 61801-1096).
NCTE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and all donations are tax deductible. Donations received by December 31 may be deducted from your income taxes for that year.
SLATE is NCTE's grassroots network that
seeks to influence public attitudes and policy decisions affecting the teaching of English language arts at local, state, and national levels;
seeks to implement and publicize the policies adopted by the National Council of Teachers of English; and
serves as NCTE's intellectual freedom network, providing support for those facing censorship challenges.
Every NCTE member will receive SLATE updates on a regular basis, will have an opportunity to participate in SLATE campaigns, and will occasionally be invited to support SLATE through voluntary contributions.
SLATE Update is distributed by email by the National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096; 800-369-6283. This online newsletter is mailed to you at the email address NCTE has on file for you. In it you'll find articles and information on and about issues that affect the teaching of the English language arts. If you would like NCTE to have a different email address on file for you, please email slate@ncte.org. If you do not wish to receive future SLATE emails, please send an email to slate@ncte.org. If you have trouble viewing this email, read this issue online.
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Copyright 2009 National Council of Teachers of English
