During an Executive Council meeting this past November, I indicated that I wished to write to President Clinton and asked the Council what they wished me to convey. What follows are excerpts from my letter, which was mailed on January 6, 1993.
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, I wish to congratulate you on your election. We believe the new covenant you proposed between America and its citizens must begin with a new covenant between America and its children, and we are optimistic that you . . . share our commitments . . .
- Establishing national standards and expectations for achievement for all America's children.
- Developing strategies for integrating curriculum and technology.
- Developing systems of authentic assessments of student learning at local and national levels.
- Creating programs and practices that improve students' capacity to create and construct meaning and enhance student achievement.
- Establishing systemic change strategies, and strategies for Total Quality Management and leadership; renorming governance and decision-making structures.
- Designing programs for professional enhancement, which facilitate the creation of learning communities through the development of empowered educators.
- Enhancing opportunities for lifelong learning for students and staff.
- Designing programs to enable parents and communities to work together to ensure school readiness.
- Designing structures for inter-agency and inter-governmental cooperation in the welfare of all children.
- America is now divided. Help America come together again by reclaiming our children. In our public schools we have permitted a system of haves and have-nots, a system of suburban, inner-city, and rural schools. We must come together. Equity of access and resources must be within the reach of all public schools in America.
- Speak boldly about the new covenant that you envision. In America all adults must be responsible for all children. Help to promote the profound African construct that "it takes a whole village to raise a child." Help our nation and all of its constituents understand that the responsibility for the education of our youth does not rest solely with the public schools. We live in an age where synergies, alliances, networks, and collaborations will position organizations and systems to achieve goals that could not be achieved when they operated independently. Corporate America must join with the education community, as well as those systems and agencies whose goals are focused on children and their families. The education of America's youth, from pre-K through college, must be seen as all one system. As Bud Hodgkinson said years ago, "When the reading scores go up in kindergarten, the colleges should cheer."
- Please remain open to all conversations and research about the need for providing quality learning for young children. It is clear that early childhood education is the foundation upon which future learning rests.
- Honor teachers. Encourage states to develop policies and programs that support continued professional growth and empowerment. In many ways, America's teachers have become a domestic peace corps. Teachers in our nation must be proud, not embarrassed, to say they are teachers. One should not be made to feel that one's IQ or self-esteem is diminished because they chose to become a teacher. Societies are judged by many things, but one of them is what they choose to honor. We hope that in your Administration, you will choose to honor service, dedication, and commitment of all kinds, but especially those who have chosen to teach our young.
- Please use your position and the "pulpit" of your Education Secretary as an advocacy pulpit rather than a "bully" pulpit. Since 1983, those who have occupied the role of Secretary of Education have sought to demean, condemn, ridicule, and chastise the education profession. I do not believe I have ever heard a Secretary of Agriculture bemoan the commitment, dedication, and talent of America's farmers. I don't believe I have ever heard the Secretary of Defense comment repeatedly on the deficiencies of our nation's armed services. Rather, those who have been chosen to be stewards of our nation's resources have been advocates for their constituents. They have not overlooked the problems that were there, but they did not operate within a climate of confrontation or accusation. As educators, we need champions as well as critics.
. . . To address these issues, we will need to work together to forge new and bold alliances and commitments. As President, you play an essential role in encouraging our capacity and willingness to take the risks we must to restructure our current system. . . . We can do no less for America's children . . .
. . . I hope you choose to seek our insight and our thinking on the critical issues that are impacting American education, and that need to be redesigned in order to enhance learning for all our students. I and our Association stand ready to assist and support you in any way we can.