In September, the second annual ASCD Leadership for Effective Advocacy and Practice (LEAP) Institute brought together leaders from across the ASCD community. Over four days in Washington, D.C., participants developed skills for promoting the ASCD legislative agenda and, ultimately, advocating for the whole child.
Three days of presentations and workshops prepared participants to ascend Capitol Hill on the fourth day and make the case with representatives and senators for public policies that support learning and teaching in U.S. schools.
Hanzelka on “High Touch”
LEAP began with ASCD President Richard Hanzelka's evocation of author Daniel H. Pink, who suggests in his book A Whole New Mind that high tech is no longer enough—the future is in “high touch.” Hanzelka quoted Pink: “High touch involves the ability to empathize, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.”
Hanzelka said that stories are the optimal means to creating high-touch relationships. Quoting educator, author, and social scientist Don Norman, Hanzelka said, “Stories capture the context, capture the emotions. Stories are important cognitive events, for they encapsulate, into one compact package, information, knowledge, context, and emotion.”
Hanzelka's hope for LEAP participants was that they would craft their own stories to narrate their important work at the institute. By sharing those stories with policymakers, “they, too, will move toward understanding the importance of high touch as they make decisions.”
No Astroturf Here
On day two of the institute, panelists from the American Association of Retired Persons, the National Education Association (NEA), and the National Alliance of Manufacturers offered primers on what does and does not work in grassroots advocacy. They said having engaging and empowering members speak to policymakers was the key to any grassroots campaign. Embedding the personal realities of members is what separates grassroots actions from “Astroturf.” In other words, one powerful story carries more weight than hundreds of identical form e-mails.
When it comes to grassroots participation, the panelists agreed that even small increases in member mobilization are worth celebrating. Whether you win legislation in your favor or not, noted Jake Sweeney of the NEA, “you have a stronger organization when you have your members engaged.”
Hodgkinson by the Numbers
Using demographic data, Harold “Bud” Hodgkinson was on hand to lend the institute a picture of the whole child of tomorrow. Hodgkinson, director of the Center for Democratic Policy at the Institute for Educational Leadership, emphasized that poverty is king when it comes to achievement indicators. He beseeched attendees to emphasize when they speak with political leaders about education policy that 22 percent of U.S. children live in poverty.
Hodgkinson cited data pointing toward low rates of college readiness for poor and minority students. Although many students believe they will earn bachelor's degrees, the statistics show low rates of actual achievement. Early starts, such as proven effective universal preK programs, showed positive outcomes in student achievement down the road.
Hodgkinson addressed an obstacle at the other end of the demographic spectrum: the “graying electorate.” By 2022, over a third of the U.S. electorate will be 65 or older. How will educators convince an aging population to contribute tax dollars for schools, essentially for “other people's kids?”
Door-to-Door Advocacy
- Determine accountability through multiple measures of assessment.
- Increase support and flexibility for comprehensive professional development.
- Provide flexibility and resources to support innovative high school reform.
- Increase support and resources for school readiness and early development of the whole child.
For many participants, these meetings on the Hill provided an excellent opportunity to strike a chord of common interest with members of Congress and their staffers and to establish ASCD leaders as go-to resources on education issues.