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What will we do on our advocacy trip to D.C.?
Hi, Everyone,
As mentioned in recent editions of NETwork, I am organizing a consortium of education advocacy groups to join the NET in a visit to Washington, D.C. after the new Congress and president are sworn in this January. We will meet with as many legislators as we can to advocate for changes in the reauthorized version of the No Child Left Behind Act. I propose that our advocacy follows a specific format:
1) Members of our group will address concerns in their areas of individual expertise. These concerns will be varied and might include but are not limited to student or teacher assessment, English language learners, the arts, special education, physical education, other academic areas, and age-specific categories such as early childhood or middle school.
2) Members will generate documents that suggest solutions to problems created by the present law. Many NET members and committees have already done this, and these documents are available from the NET's home page. With the consent of other advocacy groups such as Fair Test and the Forum for Democracy in Education, we will also make use of their excellent materials.
3) Our suggested solutions will be written in legislative language. Guidelines for doing this can be linked from the NET's home page, and I will be glad to assist as needed. This language will be presented to legislators in both hard copy and digital formats. (We want to make the insertion of our language into the new law as easy as copy-and-paste.) These materials will be prepared prior to leaving for Washington.
4) After the January swearing in, each member of our entourage will contact their district representative and both of their senators to request appointments. I will distribute a list of those who are going and their contact information so that individuals who share representatives and/or senators can coordinate with each other to avoid making multiple appointments with the same legislators.
5) Our manner in working with legislators and their staffs will be cordial whether they agree with our views or not.
6) Business cards are important. Sometimes the first request made when one enters a Capitol Hill office is for a business card. Our group will want to exchange business cards among ourselves too, so bring a few dozen.
This approach can be used at the state level. More educational policy is created there than in Washington, so state-level advocacy can make a huge difference in what happens to children in schools. Although state activism lies outside the NET's mission, I heartily endorse it.
Your comments about this plan are welcome and will be considered for future issues of NETwork.
Warm regards,
Dennis
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