Reauthorization of ESEA
An Important Message from MTA President, Paul Toner
The last time Congress reauthorized ESEA, it passed No Child Left Behind. Not this time. Congress cannot get it wrong again. The stakes are too high for students, teachers, and schools.
This time, we need to make Congress pass OUR test – and actually help students and schools. This time we want Congress to propose a bill designed to help those in the classroom – students and educators.
This time, Congress has to get it right.
But the Senate is off to a bad start. The new Senate committee bill:
Still relies heavily on outcomes of test scores instead of supporting true multiple measures of school performance.Prescribes top-down models of school turnaround for struggling schools that are not based on research, don’t work, and ignore promising, locally developed ideas to help students.Takes away teachers’ rights to have a real voice in their own evaluation systems.We know this is the wrong policy for students and educators. But there is still time to improve this bill! And that is why we need your help.
We need to remind our senators that educators know what works in classrooms and for students and that it’s time for them to listen to us.
We need to tell them to stop, think it through, and do ESEA reauthorization right for our students.
And, we need to tell them that educators are aware of what they are doing, we disapprove, and we want them to make changes NOW.”
To do this, we are asking you to:
E-mail our Senators today and tell them to make sure ESEA reauthorization is done right.Together, we can make sure ESEA reauthorization is done right.