The first page notes positive aspects of the 2011 “Blueprint for Reform” (the outline for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act), and lightly brushes past the need for more comprehensive reforms, before laying their findings clearly on the table.

Page two begins the criticism of the current administration’s policies.  Policies, which would “distribute resources by competition in the midst of a severe recession; advance experimental proposals dwarfed by the scope of the challenges in low-income communities; and promote ineffective approaches for turning around low-performing schools and education systems.”

The group’s sixteen-page report contains clear, concise, and carefully considered recommendations for ESEA’s reauthorization.  A brief outline is below, with the hope that you will not only read the full document, but share it with others.

Excerpts and outline from

Framework for Providing All Students an Opportunity to Learn through

Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law
National Action Network
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
National Council for Educating Black Children
National Urban League
Rainbow PUSH Coalition
Schott Foundation for Public Education

1. Equitable Opportunities for All

“We believe that the age of establishing outcome standards without making input investments to achieve these outcomes must end.”

1A: Adopt Common Resource Opportunity Standards to Complement the Emerging Common Student Outcome Standards.

“In our view, resource equity must go beyond just dollars to ensure, at a minimum, that all students have access to early childhood education, highly effective teachers, college-preparatory curricula, and equitable instructional resources.”

1B: Shift the Focus from Competitive Grants for a Few States to Incentives for All States to Embrace Systemic Reform.

“If education is a civil right, children in “winning” states should not be the only ones who have the opportunity to learn in high-quality environments.”

2. UTILIZATION OF SYSTEMATICALLY PROVEN AND EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL METHODS

2A: Promote and Support Universal, High-Quality Early Childhood Education.

2B: Promote and Support Universal Access to Highly Effective Teachers.

“…the federal government must build upon its recently announced intention to ensure that states and school districts do not use test data as the sole or primary measure of teacher effectiveness.”

“Any measure of teacher effectiveness must account for the degree of difficulty of the teaching environment so that high-quality teachers will not be deterred from working in high-need schools.”

2C: Institutionalize High-Quality Standards, Curricula, Assessments, and Accountability Strategies to Prepare Students to Meaningfully Participate in Our Democracy.

“…any student or school accountability measures mandated by the ESEA should include the use of multiple measures of learning to accurately measure student growth and progress.”

2D: Promote and Support the Transformation of Low-Performing Schools into Community Opportunity Education Networks.

“In transforming public schools into the hubs of their communities, teachers and principals should play lead roles, supported by mentors, counselors, and health providers.”

2E: Employ School Closure Only as a Last Resort and with Appropriate Safeguards.

“If solving the educational challenges in these communities was as simple as “fire and rehire” or “close and restart,” the problem would have been solved many years ago…”

“…no turnaround model should be implemented without ensuring a process for input from, and collaboration with, parents, the community, and teachers.”

2F: Employ Charter Schools as Accountable Laboratories of Innovation rather than Systemic Reform Prescriptions.

“We have reservations about the extensive reliance on charter schools in the Blueprint’s turnaround strategies. While charters can serve as laboratories for innovation, we are concerned about the overrepresentation of charter schools in low-income and predominantly minority communities.”

“The largest national study found that charters are more likely to underperform than outperform other public schools serving similar students.”

3. PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN EDUCATION REFORMS

3A: Institutionalize Clear Benchmarks and Processes for Public Engagement in All Federal, State, and Local Education Policies.

“…the federal government should provide clear benchmarks for parent and public engagement and should promote community-driven reforms.

3B: Institutionalize Parent and Family Engagement in All Decisions Affecting Their Children.

“…effective parent engagement strategies must be part of a comprehensive education plan and not simply voluntary or encouraged. Furthermore, parents should be fully informed…of their responsibilities for creating an enriched learning environment outside the classroom.”

4. SAFE AND EDUCATIONALLY SOUND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

4A: Replace the “Persistently Dangerous Schools” Label with a New “Safe Schools” Metric.

4B: Promote and Support Alternatives to Exclusionary Discipline Policies.

5. DIVERSE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

5A: Promote Inclusive Education Environments and Combat Concentrated Poverty, Racial Isolation, and Culturally Submersive Policies.

5B: Strengthen “Right to Transfer” Provisions.

6. COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEMS TO MAINTAIN EQUITABLE OPPORTUNITIES AND HIGH OUTCOMES

“But when American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds are allocated without requiring equitable disbursement or protection of poor districts…it sends a clouded message that privileges procedural accountability over substantive accountability.”

In addition to those who are trying to become more familiar with classroom-appropriate tools, I expect Tools for the 21st Century to become a great resource for school technology coaches and trainers who need quick and ready answers to questions like, “how do I read/subscribe to/write a blog?”  I will share this resource every chance I get.

Mr. Carpenter is a 4th grade teacher and Instructional Technology Coach for grades K-12.  His “Super Website Resources” is a quick look at some great classroom tech resources and is published via http://issuu.com. (It is also embedded below.)  His site,  mrcarpenterstech.com, covers some of these resources more fully and includes some tutorials on several topics, including Excel and Moodle.

Another resource he makes available is the blog he uses with his fourth grade students: mrcarpenterstech.com/blog. I really like that Mr. C. asks for student feedback after some lessons and reminds them to be both critical and respectful, while assuring them that he will not be unhappy with their honesty.

For even more resources, Mr. Carpenter has also shared, a “Collection of Educational Technology Links” on issuu.com.

Super Website Resources
“Annotated websites that are useful for educational technology in a K-12 setting.”