Thursday, April 28, 2011

Help us reform NCLB now!

Help us reform NCLB now!
This week we released our Parents Across America Blueprint for Revising NCLB.

Valerie Strauss featured the Blueprint on the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet with the comment: “If only President Obama would read this!"

Send a message to the President and Congress by signing our petition now!

Our blueprint includes the following reforms:

* Improving schools by means of evidence-based solutions backed by parents and other stakeholders, including class size reduction and more parent involvement in decision-making.
* Fewer standardized tests, elimination of high-stakes exams, and the right of parents to have their children opt out of these exams.
* Sufficient and equitable resources in all public schools, so that every child has the chance to receive a high-quality education.

We oppose:

* Vouchers, charter takeovers and other forms of school privatization that take resources from the schools attended by most students and put them into private hands, with little oversight.
* Policies that expand the use of testing in our schools, or use test scores to punish schools, teachers or students.
* Closing schools as an "improvement" strategy.
* Forcing states or districts to compete for federal funds. A quality education should be a right, not a race.


Please send a message to Obama, and to Congress, in support of the Parents Across America blueprint for reform by signing our petition.

Then follow up with a visit or a phone call to their offices. The bullet points above could be your talking points.

For their contact information, go to http://www.contactingthecongress.org/