DC legislative and department contact info - Re: [ndsgroup] US Ed Dept spokesperson agrees NCLB damages education

["Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>]

When you want to weigh on an issue, here is what I have for general contact info:

Here is what is on the Dept's website (http://www2.ed.gov/index.jhtml):


  a.. Questions about the Department (ED) or NCLB
  Please see our frequently asked questions (preguntas y respuestas frequentes).

        Phone: 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327)
        Spanish speakers available (se habla espaÃol) 
        TTY: 1-800-437-0833 


  b.. ED Phonebook and Organizational Directory
  Use our electronic phonebook to find phone numbers and room numbers of ED staff, or call 1-800-872-5327 (202-401-2000 in the D.C. metropolitan area).

  The ED Organizational Directory lists phone numbers, managers, and other information for ED offices.  PDF (662K) | Word (1.4M)

I don't know if a message will get anywhere relevant. If you use the directory, to my knowledge Carmel Martin is in charge of drafting ESEA - 202) 401-0831.

Congress

www.senate.gov and www.house.gov get you to directories of members and of committees. US Capitol switchboard is  (202) 224-3121 - they'll connect to members or committees, both houses. You can find list of members on each committee at the committee websites, e.g. http://edlabor.house.gov/about/members/. 

Senate lists no phone number but it is 202-224-5375. You can email at Help_comments@help.senate.gov - I assume is a main number for committee.  If you want to get to subcommittee that is to work on it (tho really will be committee leaders): The Subcommittee Chairman is Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and the Ranking Member is Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN).  

House Education and Labor main number is 202-225-3725 (Democratic, majority). 202-225-4527 is Republican main number.

Monty 

 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: ALBERT WINBUSH 
  To: care@yahoogroups.com ; rethinkaccountdc ; ARN-state@yahoogroups.com ; ARN-L ; arn2-strategy ; ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com ; Monty Neill ; Mike 
  Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 1:47 PM
  Subject: Re: [ndsgroup] US Ed Dept spokesperson agrees NCLB damages education


  Is there a number for us to call to press Congress and the Dept. of ED and the President on this point?
  Olga
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Mike 
    To: care@yahoogroups.com ; rethinkaccountdc ; ARN-state@yahoogroups.com ; ARN-L ; arn2-strategy ; ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com ; Monty Neill 
    Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 10:08 AM
    Subject: Re: [ndsgroup] US Ed Dept spokesperson agrees NCLB damages education


      
          Monty,

          I think there is a point to the critique that current testing policies narrow the curriculum with their focus on math/reading. The fact that Cunningham couldn't or wouldn't argue the point with Rothstein should help us. Of course, the counter to that shouldn't be more testing on other subjects. I'll call in. 

          Mike

          --- On Mon, 1/25/10, Monty Neill <monty@fairtest.org> wrote:


            From: Monty Neill <monty@fairtest.org>
            Subject: [ndsgroup] US Ed Dept spokesperson agrees NCLB damages education
            To: care@yahoogroups.com, "rethinkaccountdc" <rethinkaccountdc@yahoogroups.com>, ARN-state@yahoogroups.com, "ARN-L" <arn-l@interversity.org>, "arn2-strategy" <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>, ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com
            Date: Monday, January 25, 2010, 10:47 AM


              

            I don't have a link to this message which was posted to EDDRA2 and links back to a Jan 12 radio show that I don't think was noted on these lists. Note one proposed 'solution' to narrowing the curriculum is to test in more subjects. With a 'victory' like that... So how do activists use the agreement on the damage to press Congress, which will at a minimum expend a good deal of energy in next few months on reauthorization. Monty

            U.S. official admits administration policies "harming the education 

            A spokesman for the U..S. Department of Education admitted on a Jan. 12 radio
            broadcast that his own department is promoting policies that are "actually
            harming the education of students in this country" and that "education has
            been corrupted" by those policies.

            Speaking on the program "To the Point" on radio station KCRW, Peter
            Cunningham, assistant secretary of communications for the U.S. Department of
            Education, readily agreed with the views of another program guest that
            overreliance on standardized testing is detrimental to students, and that
            "many" charter schools, a model being promoted as a solution for troubled
            schools, are not successful.

            Education researcher Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute,
            speaking on the program along with Cunningham, voiced sharp criticism of the
            Obama administration' s Race to the Top education policies -- criticism that
            Cunningham acknowledged was valid.

            Rothstein and Cunningham agreed that cornerstone policies in the current
            education legislation known as No Child Left Behind have harmed education
            and that the new administration' s Race to the Top program continues the
            problematic policies.

            Race to the Top, Rothstein charged, is "accentuating the harm that NCLB
            did." NCLB's emphasis on testing only for math and reading is unchanged in
            RTTT.

            "A major consequence of No Child Left Behind that's done major harm to
            American education is the narrowing of the curriculum," Rothstein said.
            Sciences, history, social studies, music, the arts and physical education
            are neglected or abandoned as educators struggle to adhere to NCLB's
            emphasis on math and reading, Rothstein explained, and "Race to the Top
            doesn't change that." Abandoning other subjects "does the most harm to
            disadvantaged students," Rothstein added.

            Moderator Warren Olney followed up Rothstein's comments with the question to
            Cunningham: "Are standardized tests a good measure of teacher performance
            and ultimately of school performance? "

            "No, they're not," Cunningham admitted bluntly. "Education has been
            corrupted. In addition to narrowing the curriculum by abandoning other
            topics, what this kind of system does is create incentives to game the
            system. We're actually harming the education of students in this country."
            He mentioned, without more specifics, the "hope" of reauthorizing NCLB to
            include testing in more subjects. The prospect of increasing testing is
            likely to raise more concerns, but the discussion didn't pursue that issue.

            On the subject of charter schools, Rothstein disputed the view promoted by
            both the Bush and Obama administrations that charters are a solution for
            troubled schools. "The research is pretty consistent," he said. "Charter
            schools on average don't have better student performance than regular
            schools."

            Rothstein got no argument from Cunningham, who responded, "We 100 percent
            agree with Mr. Rothstein that many of them are not good" and called for more
            accountability for charter schools.

            Rothstein is a research associate with the Economic Policy Institute, a
            former education columnist for the New York Times, and the author of many
            books and studies about education policy..

            Cunningham was previously a communications consultant for the Chicago Public
            Schools during the time when his current boss, Secretary of Education Arne
            Duncan, was head of that school system.

            "To the Point" was part of the Jan. 12 KCRW broadcast of the program "Which
            Way, L.A.?" which also covered the issue of outside groups' efforts to take
            over a number of Los Angeles schools.

            Monty Neill, Ed.D.
            Interim Executive Director
            FairTest
            15 Court Sq., Ste. 820
            Boston, MA 02108
            857-350-8207 x 101
            fax 857-350-8209
            monty@fairtest. org
            www.fairtest. org
            Donate: https://secure. entango.com/ donate/MnrXjT8MQ qk 


    __._,_.___
    Reply to sender | Reply to group 
    Messages in this topic (2) 
    Recent Activity: 
    Visit Your Group Start a New Topic 
    To Post a message, send it to:   ndsgroup@eGroups.com
    To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: ndsgroup-unsubscribe@eGroups.com 
    MARKETPLACE
    Going Green: Your Yahoo! Groups resource for green living
     Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest â Unsubscribe â Terms of Use.
     
    __,_._,___