As part of ASCD's annual issues process, now in its sixth year, we invite our members to voice their opinions on the education issues important to their work and help determine the direction the Association will take in the coming years. The goal is to advance ASCD's influence on important matters of teaching and learning with the education profession, the political and policy communities, and the general public.
This year's process began last fall, when more than 2,000 ASCD members responded to the 1998–99 Issues Survey. In November, ASCD's Issues Committee used the survey to generate a list of five critical issue areas to present to the Board of Directors. Members of the committee and the ASCD staff developed preliminary position statements for each issue area.
On Monday, March 8, during our Annual Conference, ASCD's Board of Directors will decide which of these five positions to adopt as part of the Association's influence agenda. The Board will be guided in their deliberations by (1) the importance of the position to ASCD's goals, values, and mission; and (2) the Association's potential for effective action on the position. Following the Annual Conference, ASCD staff members will develop action plans and strategies for moving the positions forward.
Before the Board makes its decisions, ASCD members will get a chance to discuss, debate, and reflect on the issues at four Town Meetings at the Annual Conference (see your Program book for details). ASCD members can also give feedback on the proposed positions through ASCD's Web site (http://www.ascd.org) or by mail addressed to Don Ernst,1999 ISSUES, ASCD, 1703 North Beauregard St., Alexandria, VA 22311-1714 USA.
Only with the widest possible participation of ASCD members can this important work truly reflect the views of our membership and have a meaningful effect on ASCD's efforts to improve the education of every student.
Educator Quality and Responsibility
Proposed position: ASCD supports policies and practices that hold educators responsible for providing a quality education to all students and for continuously improving the education profession and all public schools. These responsibilities require a systemic approach in which the entire education community works together to promote the highest-quality classroom teaching and learning.
Context: This position expands on the 1997 position advocating improvements in preservice and in the continuing education of teachers and other educators. A perception is growing in many places that educators are resigned to accept marginal teaching and even incompetence in the profession. In an age calling for increased accountability, the education profession—teachers, school leaders, higher-education faculty, and other education professionals—must acknowledge and accept responsibility for developing and monitoring an ethic of excellence, providing a high-quality education to students, and leading renewal efforts.
Supporting new teachers. Educators at all levels must take the lead in the induction and mentoring of new teachers. Sustained apprenticeships, professional networks, school–university partnerships, and other such measures should be developed. In cases where uncredentialed teachers are granted an emergency permit to teach, policymakers, schools, and educators must commit to ensuring appropriate and timely development for these new teachers.
Strengthening experienced teachers. Teachers must take personal responsibility for continued growth and improvement. As the 1997 position states, teachers must be provided the time and other resources necessary to reflect on their experiences, investigate new approaches, learn new skills, and plan with their colleagues. In addition, schools should conduct appropriate review of veteran teachers by trained professionals to evaluate levels of effectiveness leading to decisions regarding continued employment.
Families and Schools
Proposed position: ASCD supports policies and practices that ensure collaborative relations of responsibility and authority between home and school for the benefit of individual students, public education, and society. Such policies and practices should engage families and advocates for students in partnerships with educators that build support for quality teaching and learning.
Context: Family involvement increases student achievement and lifelong success. Yet today many families feel increasingly alienated from public schools, leading some to pursue options outside of the public school structure.
Promoting family involvement. Educators must ensure that the family has an active voice in addressing a student's individual learning needs and interests. Those needs and interests may be best addressed through creative public school initiatives, some of which may be nontraditional programs such as magnet schools, charter schools, distance learning, service learning, multicultural curriculums, and flexible attendance boundaries. These initiatives might include collaborative efforts involving faith- and youth-based groups, as well as business–education alliances within the community. Educators must be willing to listen to the concerns of families and be willing to examine their educational practices in light of those concerns.
Parent and family responsibility. Families bear the responsibility of being active participants in the student's learning program—seeking the advice, guidance, and expertise of educators, and also offering insights, feedback, and support.
Equal Access to Excellence
Proposed position: ASCD supports policies that provide adequate funding for all learners and recognizes that the different abilities, backgrounds, and needs of students require diverse resources and multiple approaches to high-quality teaching and learning.
Context: In its previous statement on equity in education, ASCD had supported equal allocation of education funding. However, it is crucial that educators and policymakers realize that equal funding is not necessarily adequate funding for equal opportunity. To achieve equal access to knowledge and skill development for all students—regardless of background, race, or gender—resources must be adequate for the specific needs and circumstances of students and their families.
Equity and standards. Standards must serve as targets for student learning, not as obstacles to student success. The implementation of standards must be accompanied by policies that guarantee adequate resources for less well-funded communities to implement mandated standards.
Equity and funding. Due to different abilities, backgrounds, and preparation, some students require additional educational resources to achieve comparable standards and to develop the skills necessary for success. Adequate funding for some schools may mean additional funding to meet some students' learning needs. Further, spending must be linked to specific, measurable outcomes.
School Facilities
Proposed position: ASCD supports policies at the national, state/provincial, and local levels that transform school facilities into optimum environments in which to learn and work.
Context: In the United States, the Government Accounting Office reported in 1996 that the estimated need for school renovations is $112 billion, a figure that does not include new construction to accommodate unprecedented growth in the student population. In 1998, UNESCO reported that teachers in the poorest countries face dire shortages of basic necessities in their schools, from water and electricity to textbooks. Also, the report noted that even though concepts of a future "knowledge-based" society are forming, the majority of school buildings, even in the most developed countries, are not equipped to use new technology.
Adequate school facilities must ensure basic safety and security for all students and staff. The learning facility must ensure safety, security, and health for all. These must be primary considerations in assessing the need for, and funding of, school renovation and new construction.
Communities must equip facilities with the technology to educate learners for the 21st century. School facilities must address the requirements of educational technology as well as the essential need for all students to develop technological skills. These facilities will require collaboration among business, education, and local communities to ensure that all students have equal access to technology in the 21st century.
Schools should be designed to meet the diverse needs of the community. Schools serve a multi-age population, and facilities must be adequate to maximize the results of learning for whole communities, while maintaining a human scale and user-friendly environment. Schools must also be designed to conserve and maximize financial, human, and environmental resources.
Standards and Accountability
Proposed position: School systems must be held publicly accountable for the success of every student, and in turn, the public must be held accountable for creating the conditions necessary for the success of all learners.
Context: Accountability systems are often disconnected from what educators and researchers know actually works to improve student achievement. Many educators agree that there is an urgent need to redesign these systems. The standards movement is a good example. High standards for all students is a worthy goal, but often assessments and evaluation based on the standards are not congruent with how students learn, even when aligned with what students are taught. Student assessment for the 21st century must use diverse methods to measure and to value multiple approaches to teaching and learning and must have as an expectation that all students will improve. Further, the standards movement must not limit learning by narrowing curriculums, nor inhibit creative teaching and learning that is grounded in effective practice and sound research and inquiry.
Improvement, not sorting. Accountability systems should be designed to provide useful and appropriate information for educators, policymakers, and the public. Further, standards for learning and performance and their accompanying assessments should serve as targets for inspiring and improving student learning, not as means to sort and rank students.