Re: thinking about the suggestions of the Broader Bolder Approach

[MONICALUCIDO@comcast.net]

The only thing, Amy, is that even though these folks have signed on, it's not like they are an active, together group. We can't just communicate with them in one shot for some kind of strong action to stop the madness. Don't get me wrong. There are good things in there, but what Stephen says has merit. We have to have the most impact with what we can control right now, and that is OUR message. It may be that the BBA holds some of those truths, but whether or not we agree with portions or the entirety of the document is not really an action piece. If we had some folks from that group that had our direct focus, that wanted to sign on and MOVE people, then we should get them. But I like what Kaia said earlier and that is, to what level of fear or pain are we willing to face in order to gain the sympathy of the public? That is the key. If the BBA just becomes another piece of legislation that gets porked up and changed to satisfy a few politicians, then we will have put our efforts behind something that ultimately was going to fail. Again this is just MY opinion. The Baca bill is just straight forward: "Get High Stakes OUT!" I love it. 


Joe 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: amylvalens@comcast.net 
To: "arn-l" <arn-l@interversity.org>
Subject: Re: thinking about the suggestions of the Broader Bolder Approach 


Hmmm 
I understood our intention with PETC was to be a clearinghouse for actions--we wouldn't need to agree on everything as long as the actions were designed to be in resistance to high stakes testing. Here is one of those places. From my point of view, if any group has an action that would further the cause of even eroding support for high stakes testing, I want to know about it, let others know about it, and then make a decision as to whether I will put energy behind it. Keeping as many of the players in the loop to me furthers our aims. The Broader Bolder Coalition is full of people I admire--Deb Meier, Alfie Kohn, Ted Sizer... and as Jerry Bracey points out, lots who are only tangentially involved in education, like Barry Brazelton, who we don't have many other places to interact with...And a few (Duncan!) who I am surprised to see there. I would easily add Pedro Noguera to our list, as Jill suggests. 
Amy