Public Schools: The Right Choice

The AFT’s biennial professional issues conference, QuEST (Quality Educational Standards in Teaching), was held at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., July 10-13, 2003. Attended by nearly 3,000 AFT members and guests, including administrators, parents and school board members, the theme of this year’s conference was “Public Schools: The Right Choice.” Plenary sessions and workshops were aimed at improving the quality of teaching and learning in our nation’s public schools.

AFT president Sandra Feldman opened the conference with an address emphasizing the importance of making the No Child Left Behind Act work for children and schools (see story below). Despite the obvious problems with the law, the AFT and its members must guard against any attacks on NCLB that could jeopardize crucial resources for the nation’s most disadvantaged children, Feldman stressed.

Conference sessions centered on issues such as raising achievement at low-performing schools, the role of professional development in building the union, early childhood education, teacher quality, secondary school restructuring, and using technology to enhance student achievement.

• Feldman: Fight over law could jeopardize Title I

• Team Austin gets a blueprint for school improvement

• Diane Ravitch ... Betsy Rogers, 2003 Teacher of the Year ... Sen. John Kerry ... Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton

• Professional development: A tool for building the union

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