ASCD's Leadership for Effective Advocacy and Practice (LEAP) Institute brought several dozen ASCD leaders to Washington in September to learn the ins and outs of driving education policy change in state houses back home and on Capitol Hill. In addition to training sessions on advocacy skills and visits to congressional offices, participants heard the perspectives of three provocative keynote speakers.
Deborah Meier
Advocacy and Education: A Natural Match
"There's something odd about a national focus that says no child should be left behind when our policies are leaving more children behind," said Deborah Meier, veteran educator and coeditor of the recently published Many Children Left Behind: How the No Child Left Behind Act Is Damaging Our Children and Our Schools. Meier called on educators to take their advocacy responsibilities seriously, saying it's an obligation that comes with the profession. "We have to be active and alert. If we care about democracy, we must know that it's an idea that takes work, that requires a change in habit, that requires speaking truth to power. Training children to be citizens of a democratic country is the most arduous task before us, and it's not even on many of our leaders' agendas."
Richard Rothstein
Achievement: An Outcome of Means
"Income, of course, impacts learning," stated Richard Rothstein, research associate of the Economic Policy Institute: Vast differences among social classes leads to vast differences in access to health care, which "inevitably" leads to vast differences in achievement. Put money into other things that influence learning, such as vision screenings, and "you may get higher test scores," Rothstein suggested. "It stands to reason that you can't read if you can't see."
Ronald Ferguson
Giving High Expectations More than Lip Service
Most teachers know that they should have high expectations for all their students. Still, that's easier said than done, observed Ronald Ferguson, research associate at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. Often teachers' expectations for some groups of students change "only after they see success," Ferguson stated. Communicating low expectations virtually guarantees continued poor achievement, however, so Ferguson urges teachers to just trust in what his research shows: Believe they can do it and students will achieve, sometimes "at levels we haven't yet seen."