Become Informed

Information and understanding are the key tools of the effective advocate. Whether you are working for change at the classroom, school, district, or policy level, you need first to find out as much as you can about the issues.

This website offers several good places to start:

News

Legislative Update, issued by IRA’s Washington Office, reports on the status of key pieces of education-related legislation currently being considered by the U.S. Congress.

IRA's new Legislative Action Team Advisory is the place to turn for breaking news on U.S. federal education policy and legislation that will affect the literacy community.

Association Resources

“Focus on Topics in Reading” summarizes IRA resources in a number of key areas, including comprehension instruction, assessment, urban education, and the U.S. No Child Left Behind legislation.

A series of research-backed position statements outlines where we stand on critical issues such as beginning reading instruction, phonics, and phonemic awareness; overrepresentation of minorities in special education; the role of reading specialists and reading coaches; and second-language literacy instruction.

Reading Today Daily provides the latest education news and headlines and provides a forum for dialogue on the top stories.

The reports area highlights standards for teachers and learners, IRA’s summary of the work of the U.S. National Reading Panel, and the report of the National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction.

 

Other Resources

Depending on your location and particular interests, you may have numerous sources of information available to you—local and education media outlets, allied professional associations, and so on.

Of course, if your interest is in the area of policy, we recommend going to the information outlets of the policymakers themselves. Developing and expressing an informed response to policy is much more effective when you’ve first taken the time to gain an in-depth understanding of the policy itself and the issues it was designed to address. Many school districts and most national or state/provincial departments or ministries of education have extensive websites where policy and curriculum documents are available. At the federal level in the United States, for example, you can visit

THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet

U.S. Department of Education

No Child Left Behind information at the U.S. Department of Education

U.S. House of Representatives

House Committee on Education and the Workforce

U.S. Senate

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

The White House