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  • Impact on Education of the November 2012 Elections

    Nov 27, 2012

    The results of the November elections will have a significant impact on education—not only on the federal level but the state level as well.  In combination classrooms will be impacted with changes in how large classrooms are, who will have access to additional resources and how changes will be implemented.  It is important to note that there are over 80 new members of Congress (out of 435), 2,000 new state legislators (out of 7,000), that the Republicans control 30 governorships, the US House of Representatives and every state legislature in the old Confederacy.

    Near Term –
    1. Federal funding for education is part of the mix on resolving the fiscal cliff issues.  (The fiscal cliff is the automatic spending cuts that hit the federal sector on January 2, 2013 and the automatic tax increases on December 31, 2012 – note most of the automatic cuts to education don’t hit until July 2013.)  If the federal government does not increase revenues, the only way to reduce the deficit will be funding cuts, education would be a part of those cuts.  Currently, Title I, IDEA and Pell Grants make up 70% of USED education spending. 
    2. State legislation – Ohio (in a lame duck session) and several other states are taking up teaching of reading, teacher education, early childhood assessment and other issues as an attempt to improve early reading education.
      a. Note – the National Governors Association is building a significant effort in the area of early childhood literacy
      b. States with waivers – the states with waivers are in a bit of a pickle, many are trying to figure out how to implement what they have agreed to do, this includes but is not limited to:
        i. Teacher and principal evaluations
        ii. Implementing college and career ready standards
    3. Core Standards – while several states are debating whether or not to reverse their agreement to adopt the core standards but most are going ahead with implementation.  Most are assuming:
      a. There need to be funds for curriculum development and professional development (the key issue is will there be enough funding).
      b. When the new assessments come on-line they will show an overall drop in student achievement.
        i. It will also show a bigger achievement gap than has been reported before.
        ii. There will also be many questions on the use of technology for the assessment
    Into the Spring of 2013 –
    4. Reauthorizations – there are eight different measures that the Congress could take up during the next two years.  As of now it looks like early childhood and Higher Education are the two first out of the box.  The Higher Education Act is mostly about student loans and Pell Grants, but there are also sections on teacher education.  There will also be a continued push to create public Charter Institutions of Teacher Education to by-pass traditional state certification.
      a. No Child Left Behind (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) has been up for rewriting.  The Senate education committee chair wishes to move it soon, and the House education chair has said he too wishes to move it forward but he may have over half of his committee change (again to a majority (of the majority) being new to the Congress and to education). 
      b. Other issues pending are: Perkins Act, Head Start, Child-Care Community Block Grant, Institute for Education Sciences, Workforce Investment Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
    5. Education Funding in FY 13 and beyond
      a. The spending for the next school year by the federal government will need to be updated by March 27th.  This is different than the fiscal cliff issues which are more about overall levels (this much for education, this much for defense) and more about how much for specific programs (Striving Readers, Title I, IDEA, etc.).
    Looking a bit over the horizon –
    6. There will be increased links between Title I and Head Start
    7. There will be increased links between IDEA and Title I
    8. There will be increased links between technology and instruction
    9. The Administration will begin to shift to more emphasis on personalization of instruction.
    10. The role of the manufacturing sector to force attention on improving literacy instruction will become significant – over 600,000 jobs in the US are going wanting for people with the literacy skills needed to meet the demands of those jobs.

    Posted on November 27, 2012

    Rich Long, IRA Government Relations, November 27, 2012

    To follow legislative information on twitter go to: @rlongliteracy

  • Legislative Update, October 2012

    Oct 24, 2012

    Introduction and Overview

    Update on IRA’s new Guidelines for the Common Core, Plus a Q & A section on the Common Core State Standards on IRA’s website, IRA’s new University of Advocacy webinars; IRA’s proposed statement on “Universal Principles: Essential Role of the Teacher in Classrooms, Schools, and Society; Richard Long’s legislative update; and Richard Long’s Twitter.

    Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

    Wondering what are the links between the English Language Common Core State Standards and reading? Take a look at: IRA Guidance on CCSS. This will give you several ideas how to coordinate your curriculum, the needs of your students with the CCSS. In addition, the IRA Committee on the CCSS has developed a Q & A section on the website. Please tell your members and colleague they can ask for help in understanding, interpreting and implementing the CCSS by going to: IRA Q & A on CCSS.

    The University of Advocacy?

    Second of Series: Five Sessions on The Art of Advocacy
    February 5 – March 12, 2013

    Sign up here for the University of Advocacy's second course on the Art of Advocacy. This is a webinar training program (both audio and video via the Internet). There will be five classes which will be archived so you do not have to watch live.

    The classes begin on Tuesday, February 5 and run Tuesdays through March 12, 2013, with February 12 skipped for State of Union address. The sessions are from 8 pm to 9 pm EST. The sessions are:

    • Feb 5, 2013 – Models of Advocacy – what are the range of activities
      Download Slideshow PDF
    • Feb 19, 2013 – How to organize a group to organize – what are the communications, training and other supports
    • Feb 26, 2013 – How to build and work with coalitions – what are the "rules" of cooperation
    • Mar 5, 2013 – How do I negotiate – figuring out what you want and how to get it
    • Mar 12, 2013 – Review – What are the important points?

    Click Here to sign up for University of Advocacy Webinar Series.

    First of Series: Five Sessions on PolySci 101
    October 23 – December 4, 2012

    Essential Role of the Teacher in Classrooms, Schools, and Society: IRA is developing a statement on teacher principles. Your comments are needed before November 1, 2012.

    IRA has had a team of teachers from all levels working on a set of statements regarding what governments are doing to impact schools and students. At present, most programs are oriented towards government setting goals, deciding on assessments to evaluate those goals, and demanding results. IRA believes that a new social contract needs to be created between teachers and the government in order to create schools where students thrive. The draft that outlines this agreement.

    What do you think? Should IRA continue down this path to speak on the professional issues impacting teaching, learning, and students? Are we missing a key element? Can it be better said? Should we change parts of it?

    We invite you to review this statement and comment by November 1st. Read the draft statement and submit your comments here: UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES: The Essential Role of the Teacher in Classrooms, Schools, and Society.

    Federal Issues

    The US Department of Education is continuing to talk with states about their applications to be exempt from the requirements of No Child Left Behind by agreeing to make significant changes in eleven critical areas. These areas include adopting college- and career-ready standards (such as the Common Core State Standards); linking teacher and principal evaluation to student performance, and other changes. It is expected that 35 states will submit requests for waivers.

    In addition, the Congress passed a funding bill to get the government functioning until March 27th. This spending plan actually includes a small 0.006% increase in funding for education programs. A decision on how to allocate this funding will be made over the next few weeks.

    The sequestration of funds; a major part of the deficit reduction program passed last year will take effect on January 2nd. Most education programs will not be cut until July 2013 – except for Impact Aid which will be cut by over 8% on January 2, 2013. While it is possible for the upcoming lame duck session to change the sequestration, it is likely only to happen if there is some type of large scale agreement on taxes and entitlement spending, military spending, along with the domestic areas.

    On November 13th the Congress reconvenes for its lame-duck session. This post-election meeting is to decide on many issues, the largest being the long-term deficit plan. It is possible that the Congress and Administration will not come to any agreement on the fiscal issues and we will go into the new year with taxes automatically being raised, cuts automatically being made to the military and to social programs. One senior senator has said that he expects the cuts to take effect and then the new Congress to act to turn them around.

    Twitter

    To follow legislative information on twitter go to: @rlongliteracy

    Go comment!

  • University of Advocacy Webinars

    Oct 16, 2012

    This virtual University will demystify advocating for literacy and keep you up on current literacy issues that affect your classroom and your vital work as an educator. You, as teachers and educators, are on the front lines of education reform and we need your participation to lead Congress to work for the best literacy education. After airing, the webinar powerpoints will be posted here on the advocacy page by each date and topic.

    Second of Series: Five Sessions on The Art of Advocacy
    February 5 – March 12, 2013

    Sign up here for the University of Advocacy's second course on the Art of Advocacy. This is a webinar training program (both audio and video via the Internet). There will be five classes which will be archived so you do not have to watch live.

    The classes begin on Tuesday, February 5 and run Tuesdays through March 12, 2013, with February 12 skipped for State of Union address. The sessions are from 8 pm to 9 pm EST. The sessions are:

    • Feb 5, 2013 – Models of Advocacy – what are the range of activities
      Download Slideshow PDF
    • Feb 19, 2013 – How to organize a group to organize – what are the communications, training and other supports
    • Feb 26, 2013 – How to build and work with coalitions – what are the "rules" of cooperation
    • Mar 5, 2013 – How do I negotiate – figuring out what you want and how to get it
    • Mar 12, 2013 – Review – What are the important points?

    Click Here to sign up for University of Advocacy Webinar Series.

    First of Series: Five Sessions on PolySci 101
    October 23 – December 4, 2012

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