Visits with key groups help build alliances in Washington
A long-sought meeting with Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, furthered the Federal Issues Council’s ongoing efforts to build alliances with a variety of nongovernmental organizations in the nation’s capital.
The FIC delegation had planned to share ideas with Edelman for additional intervention strategies under the School Improvement Grant program focused on curriculum, instruction and staff development.
“Before we were able to introduce everyone from our group, she beat us to the punch with the same idea,” said CSBA President Frank Pugh. “We compared notes on our other recommendations around reauthorization of [the Elementary and Secondary Education Act] and also found the CDF’s thinking to be in line with our own.”
Reforms that have been successful in one school or area need to be replicated on a grander scale, Edelman said, for example, while acknowledging that local circumstances can require flexibility and alternative approaches. “You need to have the right conditions,” she said.
ESEA a common topic
Sam Chaltain, national director of the Forum for Education and Democracy, echoed those sentiments during the FIC visit with leaders of that self-described national education “action tank” (as opposed to think tank), which is committed to the preparation of engaged and thoughtful democratic citizens.
Chaltain agreed with the FIC delegation that the Obama administration’s rhetoric on ESEA reauthorization and some of the details in its “blueprint” for achieving that don’t line up. There’s a disconnect between “the promising work on the ground and the policy conversations taking place at 30,000 feet,” he noted.
David Shreve, federal affairs counsel for the National Conference of State Legislatures, touched on common standards during his meeting with FIC members. Shreve said NCSL supports common, voluntary standards as long as they’re “state driven and really common and voluntary.” The draft standards released by the NGA, however, are neither common nor voluntary, he objected.
In a meeting at the Economic Policy Institute, President Lawrence Mishel and research associate Richard Rothstein discussed the work and recommendations of their reform strategy known as the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education. Rothstein, whose work focuses on closing the achievement gap, shared some of his latest research on the progress of black students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
FIC delegates also shared perspectives on ESEA reauthorization with the National Education Association, the Campaign for High School Equity, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education and the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights.
Coalitions and partnerships
Discussion shifted to the concept of community schools, which take advantage of partnerships between the school and other community resources, when FIC members visited Martin Blank at the Institute for Educational Leadership.
“We need to be purposeful and intentional. How do we organize the community to achieve results?” Blank asked. “When building partnerships, the conversations should not start with ‘what are the common problems we share,’ but rather with goals to achieve together.”
Career and technical education priorities were the main topic at a meeting with the National Association of Manufacturers, which is developing plans for a project to create partnerships in the San Francisco Bay area to integrate and replicate a pathway to good employment.
“I have a strong interest in career and technical education, and know that we have a major impact on the economy of our state by getting our children work-ready,” said CSBA President Pugh, who is a member of NAM’s Education Council.
A meeting with the National Endowment for the Arts focused on the need to educate policymakers on importance of arts curriculum. Other groups FIC members met with ranged from the National Education Association and National School Boards Association to the National Head Start Association.