On Monday, March 18, ASCD's Board of Directors will determine the direction of much of the Association's work for 1996. The Board will select, from a list of six, those issues it believes ASCD should adopt as special focus areas for the year. In making their selections, Board members will evaluate each issue on its relevance to ASCD's goals, values, and mission. Once the issues are selected, ASCD staff will develop action plans and strategies for each of them.
Every year, ASCD members play an important role in helping set the Association's agenda. The 1996 issues process began last fall when more than 10,000 ASCD members completed the Issues Identification Survey. ASCD's Education Issues Committee, which met last November, used the survey results to help identify the six issues that will be presented to the Board.
Members can still share their perspectives on each of the six issues before the Board makes its final selection. Those ASCD members who plan to attend the Annual Conference will receive a brochure describing the proposed issues with their conference registration materials; they can then share their viewpoints at two Town Meetings, scheduled for Saturday, March 16, from 3 - 4:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 17, from 1:30 - 3 p.m.
ASCD members not attending the Conference can read the position statements posted on ASCD's Web site and respond directly using the comments area. Members can also write ASCD at 1250 N. Pitt St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Envelopes should be addressed, ATTN: Don Ernst—1996 ISSUES.
"By directly involving members and affiliates in identifying issues, we develop consensus as to which issues are most significant to a broad cross-section of the educational community," says Doug Harris, chair of the Education Issues Committee. Member feedback, he asserts, "forms the foundation of our analysis of educational issues."
Proposed Position: Support and Protection of Public Education in a Democracy
Position: Support for public education is critical to sustaining democracy, because equal access to a free, high-quality public education—in settings where diverse children learn together—produces an active, informed citizenry committed to pluralism and democratic processes.
Background: This issue stems from the observed decline in public commitment to the democratic purposes of education. Public schools play a vital role in preparing students to participate fully in civic life and in building a better society, yet support for public schools appears to be eroding. The movement toward privatizing schooling is accelerating, and resources for public schools are shrinking at the federal, state/provincial, and local levels. Many critics are calling for public funding of private schools.
In this climate, educators must reaffirm the democratic purposes of public schools. In public schools, children from all walks of life interact as they learn about democratic principles and experience them in action. Public schools are the primary "public space" where ideals of pluralism and democratic participation are instilled and internalized.
Therefore, policy leaders must maintain the resources needed to provide equal access to good public schools for all children. In return, public school educators must create the best possible conditions for teaching and learning. Schools must also model democratic processes, giving teachers, students, families, and other community members a voice in decisions that affect the educational lives of children and educators.
Proposed Position: Respecting and Honoring Diversity in School Communities
Position: Respect for diversity is an important principle underlying a pluralistic, democratic society. Educators should celebrate and honor the diversity that exists in their classrooms, schools, and communities. Respect for diversity should also be reflected in governance structures and decisions, teaching practices, education policies, and partnerships with other educational and community organizations.
Background: Educators have been leaders in the struggle to increase awareness of, and sensitivity to, diversity. For example, educators have worked to identify and adopt teaching strategies that are suited to diverse classrooms and communities. Nevertheless, many students are still denied equal access to knowledge, and therefore are not succeeding in school at levels that will allow them to participate fully in economic and civic life.
ASCD recognizes that educating students to live and participate in a multicultural democracy is vital. In the future, people will need to know how to capitalize on human differences, both in educational settings and in the workplace and society.
Therefore, educators should use teaching and assessment strategies that respect cultural differences; create curriculums that include the stories of people from diverse backgrounds; help educators gain a deeper understanding of cultural differences; support bilingual education for language-minority children; and ensure that historically excluded groups are welcomed as stakeholders in decisions that affect children's lives. In addition, school staffs should reflect the diversity of the community.
Proposed Position: School Safety and Violence Prevention for a Positive School Climate
Position: Schools and educators, together with their communities, must create safe school environments and equip students with skills and understandings that counter violence. Educators should help to (1) create schools that serve as safe community centers, (2) develop positive and trusting relationships with students, (3) teach students how to resolve conflicts and accept human differences, and (4) engage families, communities, and community agencies in creating stimulating and safe schools.
Background: ASCD recognizes that conflict and conflict resolution are important parts of growth and learning in a democracy. Educators can respond to concerns about school safety, in part, by instilling the knowledge, skills, and understandings students need to resolve conflicts constructively.
Educators can also respond to concerns about safety by modeling ways to avoid and resolve conflict—such as negotiating, mediating, using humor effectively, and balancing individual rights and collective responsibilities. Educators are powerful role models for children. How educators interact with students and other adults in school settings serves an important modeling function.
Educators can also help reduce school violence and mistrust by offering engaging learning experiences. When they engage students in active, relevant learning, teachers can direct student energies in positive ways.
In addition, educators should press policymakers to create conditions conducive to trust among all who inhabit schools.
Proposed Position: Teaching Toward Challenging Voluntary Standards
Position: Challenging educational expectations and opportunities are fundamental to student achievement. Standards, however, should be used as guides and should not be regarded as mandates.
Background: Students can, and do, meet high academic expectations. Developing standards can ensure that all students are equally challenged and have the same opportunities to participate in academically rigorous educational programs.
Educators have successfully used national and state standards as guides in determining what all students should know and in deciding how students can demonstrate what they've learned. The standards that have the most positive impact in the classroom are those that encourage a broad approach to learning; narrow definitions of minimum requirements can actually thwart student achievement, rather than enhance it, by shifting emphasis to low-level skills and away from higher-order thinking. Standards must be meaningful and relevant for schools, educators, and, most importantly, for students.
Proposed Position: The Role of Technology in Teaching and Learning
Position: Technology should be used as a tool to support and enhance learning.
Background: When technology is used effectively in the classroom, the results can be amazing. For example, a group of students, linked together through software and computers, share ideas instantaneously as they work on a collaborative writing project; access to the Internet provides students engaged in research projects with a wealth of resources not accessible through traditional means; foreign language classes become more purposeful when students communicate, via electronic mail, with native speakers.
When technology is not incorporated into curriculum in thoughtful, meaningful ways, it becomes merely the latest gadget in the classroom; its use becomes haphazard. In such "hit and miss" approaches, some students are cheated of opportunities to practice using tools they may be expected to use when they leave school.
Ongoing staff development is crucial for teachers to incorporate technology into their curriculums effectively. Teachers' best practices must be shared among educators so all children will have access not only to technological tools, but also to teachers who can guide them in using these tools. Ongoing communication about the aims of technology in education is a key feature of schools that use technology to enhance academic programs and to create educational experiences that have a profound impact on student learning and achievement.
Proposed Position: Equitable Financial Support for Public Schools
Position: Funding for all public schools must be adequate and equitable.
Background: The inadequate funding of some public schools is a serious issue for all communities because the educational achievement of each student affects society at large. For less-advantaged students, inequitable funding contributes to a significant achievement gap, which, in turn, contributes to a significant gap in access to those higher educational opportunities that prepare students to compete for good jobs. Further, equitable school funding is basic to education reform and to the renewal of our schools and school systems.
Striving for equitable school funding will require patience and perseverance: Communities must be educated about the complex funding formulas at the national, state/provincial, and local levels; the public must be made aware that, given the severity of educational discrepancies, simply providing the same number of per-pupil dollars to every school will not result in equity—many schools will require additional resources to elevate them to an acceptable baseline for academic achievement; and policymakers must be persuaded of the need to focus on achieving equitable financial support for public schools.