October 2008

Connecting the Classroom to the Capitol

By Gene R. Carter, Executive Director, ASCD

In the final days before we elect a new president, it's clear that the upheavals on Wall Street and the war in Iraq have overtaken education as national priorities. Numerous public opinion polls show education lags behind a number of other voter concerns, and Congress has also prioritized other issues, failing to fund education programs at rates that keep up with inflation.

Moving forward, the new president, his administration, and the new Congress must refocus their attention on education because it's the single most important factor shaping our country's future. If we don't educate our children well, they won't be ready to lead our country and solve its problems years from now.

Last month, almost 200 ASCD educators—teachers, principals, district administrators, curriculum developers, college professors, and others—traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for sound education policy as part of ASCD's Leadership for Effective Advocacy and Practice (LEAP) Institute. Before ASCD's educator advocates met with their representatives on Capitol Hill, CNN political commentator Donna Brazile and Fox News political commentator Frank Luntz provided advice on how to powerfully and effectively advocate for a better education system for our children.

The speakers' personal politics couldn't be more polarized, but the core messages they relayed to the LEAP attendees were the same:

• Education must become a bigger federal priority. No other issue is as central to deciding the fate of this country and the next generation's quality of life.
• Education should be a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans must come together in support of children.
• Educators have the power to elevate education as a national priority and advocate for a better education system by working with their elected officials and local media.
• Advocacy efforts shouldn't end with the conclusion of Capitol Hill meetings. Educators must demand accountability of their elected officials and publicize their discussions with them through news releases, op-eds, and conversations with local media.

Brazile and Luntz are right. Educators know what students need and are armed with personal stories and experiences that no lobbyist can replicate. Such stories are critical for individualizing, personalizing, and humanizing the need for education change.

In other words, educators offer elected officials a direct line to students. Luntz emphasized that if educators can't physically bring their students to talk with legislators about improving education, then they need to bring their students' voices. And in bringing those voices, educators need to make it clear to their lawmakers that each child has a right to an education that ensures she is healthy, safe, engaged in learning, supported by caring adults, and academically challenged.

When ASCD's educator advocates visited their lawmakers on Capitol Hill, they experienced firsthand the truth of Brazile's and Luntz's words about their unique power, as well as the reality that too few educators exercise their influence beyond the classroom. Members of Congress respected their expertise as professional educators and were receptive to their messages.

Tim Nootenboom, an ASCD member and principal of Cascade View Elementary School in Snoqualmie, Washington, met with Representative Dave Reichert and with Senator Patty Murray's office as part of the LEAP Institute. "In both cases, they supported the ideas we shared about improving education policy, particularly the need to use multiple measures for assessing both student and school performance," said Nootenboom. "They asked us to partner with them in crafting policy language to help address No Child Left Behind's shortcomings."

Educators need to tap into lawmakers' respect for their profession and take full advantage of their power. Organizations like ASCD regularly advocate on behalf of our members, but we can't duplicate the power of educators' personal stories about specific students who would directly benefit from new or improved education legislation. Unfortunately, some ASCD members learned from their representatives' legislative staffs that educators don't regularly call, make visits, or send letters to advocate for education policies that best serve our students.

This needs to change. A new president and administration represent an opportunity for educators to become a more significant voice in the national conversation about how we can ensure future generations enjoy an even higher quality of life. ASCD is committed to helping educators exercise their voice and connect their classrooms to the Capitol.

To receive updates and alerts informing you when your voice can make a difference, join ASCD Educator Advocates at www.ascd.org/actioncenter.

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