Fwd: [ARN-state] FEA News Release: now 128 signers to Joint Statement on NCLB

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

  From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>

  Date: Mon Jun 4, 2007 7:34:35 AM US/Pacific

  To: "Susan Harman" <susanharman@igc.org>

  Subject: Re: [ARN-state] FEA News Release: now 128 signers to Joint Statement
  on NCLB

  Reply-To: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>

  So many others have signed it is safe; changes and improvements within AFT
  policy; push from below... all of the above.

  ----- Original Message -----

  From: Susan Harman

  To: Monty Neill

  Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 12:39 AM

  Subject: Re: [ARN-state] FEA News Release: now 128 signers to Joint Statement
  on NCLB

  AFT?! Wow. Why?

  On Wednesday, May 23, 2007, at 09:10 AM, Monty Neill wrote:

  Forum on Educational Accountability

  www.edaccountability.org

                                                                        for
  further information:

                                                                      Dr. Monty
  Neill           (617) 864-4810

                                                                       or Bob
  Schaeffer         (239) 395-6773

  for immediate release Wednesday, May 23, 2007

  MOVEMENT TO OVERHAUL “NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND” ACCELERATES;

  128 NATIONAL EDUCATION, CIVIL RIGHTS, RELIGIOUS, DISABILITY,

  LABOR & CIVIC GROUPS REPRESENTING MORE THAN 50 MILLION MEMBERS

  URGE REPLACING FAILED TEST-SCORE SANCTIONS WITH SYSTEMATIC REFORMS

        As U.S. Senate and House committees consider revisions to the federal
  “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) law, 128 national education, civil rights,
  religious, civic, labor and disability groups have now signed on to a Joint
  Organizational Statement on NCLB, which states “the law’s emphasis needs to
  shift from applying sanctions for failing to raise test scores to holding
  states and localities accountable for making the systemic changes that
  improve student achievement.”

        Together, the signing organizations represent a non-overlapping
  membership of more than 50 million Americans

        The number of organizational signers has expanded by more than two
  dozen since the beginning of this year and more than quadrupled since the
  statement was launched in late 2004. The rapid growth reflects growing
  pressure for Congress to make significant changes in NCLB.

         Recent signers include the AFL-CIO, American Civil Liberties Union,
  American Federation of Teachers, Council of Administrators of Special
  Education, Organization of Chinese Americans, National Association of
  Secondary School Principles, and Public Education Network.

        The Joint Statement outlines 14 recommended changes to NCLB including:

             - Replace over-reliance on standardized tests with the use of
  multiple achievement measures in order to provide a more comprehensive
  picture of student and school performance.

             - Supplant arbitrary proficiency targets with ambitious
  achievement targets based on rates of success actually achieved by the most
  effective public schools.

              - Authorize interventions that enable schools to make changes
  that result in improved student achievement instead of sanctions that do not
  have a consistent record of success.

             - Enhance the knowledge and skills teachers, administrators and
  families need to support high student achievement and improve state and
  district capacity to assist them.

             - Increase NCLB funding to cover a substantial percentage of the
  costs that states and districts will incur to carry out these
  recommendations.

        Working together as the Forum on Education Accountability (FEA), many
  of the Joint Statement signers have submitted detailed NCLB overhaul
  proposals to the Congressional committees reviewing the law. Earlier this
  year, FEA released “Redefining Accountability,” recommendingtwo dozen
  “fundamental reforms” in NCLB’s provisions for professional development,
  family involvement and accountability.In mid-June a panel of academic experts
  commissioned by FEA will release detailed recommendations for overhauling the
  assessment provisions of NCLB.

       The “Joint Organizational Statement,” a current list of its signers, the
  FEA report “Redefining Accountability” and other materials are online at
  http://www.edaccountability.org.

  -- 3 0 --

  ----------------------------------

  Monty Neill, Ed.D.

  Chair, Forum on Educational Accountability

  Co-Executive Director, FairTest

  342 Broadway

  Cambridge, MA 02139

  617-864-4810; fax 617-497-2224

  monty@fairtest.org

  www.fairtest.org; www.edaccountability.org

  __._,_.___ <image.tiff>

  SPONSORED LINKS

  <image.tiff>

  Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional

  Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)

  Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully
  Featured

  Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

  __,_._,___

  Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll

  http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F

  Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!

Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll

http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F

Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!