The upshot: Arne won't be able to say teachers are onboard with his RttT farce after this meeting!
New Business Item AAdopted as Amended
NEA shall communicate clearly, forcefully, and publicly — without equivocation — that NEA opposes any effort by the United States Department of Education or its Secretary (collectively, the “Department”), states or school districts, to undermine educators’ rights or the basic right of all students to have access to a great public school. NEA will forcefully challenge such efforts and advocate that the Department’s programs:
1. Never undermine or invalidate the rights of education employees under federal, state or local laws, or collective bargaining agreements.
2. Not provide basic federal educational funding through competitive grant models. Such funding is neither sustainable nor equitable, and forces local and state agencies to compete against each other for precious funding and resources.3. Not promote models and strategies to transform low performing schools that are not driven by the actual needs of the schools and the decisions of local stakeholders, and that fail to recognize progress under existing school improvement efforts.4. Allow states and school districts to determine whether a school is low performing based on multiple indicators that include significant indicators other than standardized tests; and not evaluate school or educator performance based on standardized test scores.
5. Eliminate the prescriptive nature of the current models for school improvement including the restrictive Rule of 9. The Rule of 9 bars district-wide use of a single improvement model if nine or more schools are identified for intervention, and therefore serves as a disincentive for school districts to use the collaborative transformation model.
6. Establish collaborative relationships with education communities in every state, including with state and local unions of educators.
7. Focus on supporting and creating great public schools, rather than supporting private charters or other programs that undermine the stability of great public schools.
New Business Item BAdopted as Amended
NEA shall continue to aggressively pursue its comprehensive national campaign to achieve the Positive Agenda for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Reauthorization adopted by the 2006 Representative Assembly. The campaign is based on our belief that public education is a right and a shared responsibility between legislators, communities, parents and guardians, and public school employees. Without this shared commitment to great public schools for every student, our nation will never realize its full potential, and many of our children will never realize their share of the American Dream. The key principles driving that campaign are to ensure that the reauthorized ESEA:
*Provides adequate, equitable, and sustainable funding for all public schools that is not driven by competitive grants;
*Elevates the education profession to attract great educators and leaders for every public school by ensuring that educators are part of critical decisions affecting students, schools, and their work lives;
*Supports schools and school employees serving our most at-risk students;
*Provides students with multiple ways to show what they have learned, and recognizes the unique instructional and assessment needs of special populations;
*Replaces Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) with a measurement system that correctly identifies struggling schools and provides meaningful support to those schools rather than punishment;
*Protects the rights of education employees under state and local laws, and collective bargaining agreements including the development of educator compensation systems.
*Recognizes the need for shared responsibility among stakeholders and supports programs that are designed to enhance parental and family involvement.
New Business Item DAdopted as Amended
Scholarly academic research should not be dismissed or diminished simply because it contradicts a school board member's political or religious views. American history should not be rewritten simply because some of our history reflects poorly on our national character or how we would like to view ourselves. English language arts and mathematics instruction should not be subjected to the pendulum swings of competing philosophies that are not grounded in pedagogical research, and science standards should be determined based on science.Furthermore, the curriculum taught to millions of children nationwide should not be held hostage to the ideological whims of political extremists. It is especially detrimental to education when politically and ideologically motivated decision-making influences the content included or excluded by textbook publishers, whose products reach far beyond the state(s) in which such decisions are made.
Still to be considered:
New Business Item 11NEA will organize a campaign to inform teachers and public about the privatization of public schools and how it undermines democracy. This campaign will include but not limited to characteristics, theoretical foundation, effects in practice, comparative study of public and private systems in the world, social, legal, and economic implications for teachers, curriculum and communities.
Rationale/Background
Privatization of public education in America is already happening and the consequences of this process have been disappointing or disastrous. NEA must defend public education by providing relevant information and workshops to its members. The very existence of our public education system and its democratic principles are at stake.
New Business Item 44
The NEA shall encourage President Obama to replace the Sect. of Educ. Arne Duncan with a person who is aligned with the interests of the NEA, its members, and especially the students it serves. Sect. Duncan's philosophy of applying the business model of competition to education is misguided and deleterious to public education.Rationale/Background
The D.O.E. must be led by someone who sees all students as deserving of an excellent public school and the federal funding it requires, not just those in states that can win resources by best adopting Sect. Duncan's competitive philosophy.
New Business Item 46
That NEA advocates for the need for formal appeals process for every school that is being targeted with academic sanctions, or any other form of take over.Rationale/Background
Under current policies schools do not have a formal recourse in appealing their cases. This is a clear violation of a school's due process. Further, this is a clear civil rights violation of our student's equal access to quality education.
A lot more at:
http://www.nea.org/grants/33354.htm
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