Delivering the message
Members engage in substantive NCLB talks with Congress

Weeks before Congress took up the details of the No Child Left Behind Act, the AFT and its affiliates ramped up meetings across the country between lawmakers and union members. The reason was simple: Now that NCLB is up for reauthorization and improvement, Congress needs to hear the first-person, frontline stories from the classroom about how this keystone federal education law is playing out.

They were informal, off-the-record talks—just the type of venue that allows teachers and paraprofessionals to raise key points and concerns about NCLB in its current form. It was a great opportunity “to build understanding around some of the NCLB challenges—looking at incentives rather than punishments— and to make sure that teachers get involved in the process,” said teacher Lynne Dodson, one of a group of AFT activists who met with Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) this summer.

The meetings involved many classroom educators who are part of the AFT’s Activists for Congressional Education (ACE) committees. They stressed the need to make NCLB accountability fair and accurate, that the time is now to change the system and finally give credit to schools that started further behind but are making real progress. The AFT activists urged lawmakers to focus on providing educators with the professional development and support they need to succeed in the classroom—and to resist calls to impose new, unnecessary requirements on teachers. They asked their elected representatives to boost support for schools that are truly struggling, not through ideological schemes but through research-proven interventions that can help raise student achievement. And they stressed that resources do matter when it comes to NCLB; districts and schools must have the funds necessary to allow students to do their best.

In recent weeks, dozens of ACE committees have met with lawmakers across the country, including a majority of Democratic and Republican members on the powerful House Education and Labor Committee. It will have a major say in what goes into the next version of NCLB, the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The ACE meetings gave members an opportunity to share the real stories behind NCLB—the ones that don’t always penetrate the Beltway.

One of the most promising signals from these meetings was the response from elected officials, who treated the events as valuable opportunities to put their ears to the ground and identify what really needs to be fixed in the law.The meetings were just the latest in the ACE program. Started in 2005, the ACE members build ongoing relationships between AFT affiliates and members of Congress though several meetings each year. They give Congress a constituents’ eye view of key issues such as Social Security, healthcare and education.

The ACE meetings are just one way the union has built a substantive, sustained grass-roots dialogue with Capitol Hill. Representatives from both parties also have attended NCLB town hall meetings organized by the AFT in cooperation with its affiliates. Meetings have taken place in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri and New York, with more slated in the weeks ahead. And in late September, dozens of AFT frontline members journeyed to Washington, D.C., for additional face-to-face talks on NCLB with representatives and their staffs.

In many cases, these meetings  represent a continuation of the real dialogue surrounding NCLB and education issues that began in 2006, when AFT activists worked aggressively and successfully to elect many candidates committed to strong public schools.

NCLB: Front and Center

Congress wasted no time getting into the details of the No Child Left Behind Act this fall. There are more than 100 bills circulating through Congress that are tied to NCLB reauthorization, including a  reauthorization discussion draft of  the bill released recently by leaders of the House Education and Labor Committee.

NCLB “is a complex law, and our initial review of draft language suggests that its reauthorization will be just as complex,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy said of the 435-page discussion draft, which was under study by AFT officers and policy experts as American Teacher went to press. What does come across immediately, McElroy added, is that the discussion draft makes clear that more work needs to be done on Capitol Hill to fix the law’s fundamental problems, and adequate time is required to get the law right.

That’s the right course to take, the AFT president stressed, and he has urged Congress to resist any effort to short-circuit discussion on how to improve key provisions. “This process demands careful and deliberative consideration—not just of what is written but what its effect will be in our classrooms.”

K-12 professionals and members throughout the AFT can track and join that discussion by visiting the AFT Legislative Action Center at www.aft.org or by joining the union’s e-Activist network. AFT e-Activists receive late-breaking news by e-mail and opportunities to communicate quickly with their legislators before critical votes are taken in Congress. To join the network, visit www.aft.org/e-activist.