Welcome to NEA Today Action, a new, dynamic interactive web site for NEA members to speak directly to key policymakers, exchange views with fellow educators and take action on some of today’s most important issues.
Because government policy has such an enormous effect in and around our classrooms, educators must take an active voice to influence – and educate – leaders at the local, state and national level.
They’re listening more than they have been in the past eight years, so now’s the time to make your voice heard on a host of issues, including health care, jobs, employees rights, and the upcoming reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, better known as No Child Left Behind.
NEA Today Action is currently spotlighting contributions from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Sen. Tom Harkin, Sen. Mike Enzi, Rep. George Miller, Rep. John Kline, and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
But the conversation is not complete unless you talk back! So we urge you take the time to read their thoughts on education reform and, using the multimedia and social media components on the site, respond to their ideas, share your own, and continue the discussion around transformation with fellow educators.
NEA has a place at the table. So let’s use it!
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This is all such a shame. I too received a RIF notice, and while not unexpected, was still devastated, then angry, then just plain p.o’d. I am in my 5th yr, work hard at my job, also am involved in many school committees and duties, and unfortunately the bottom of the seniority list in my department. I live in an area that is supposedly the richest county in Ohio, yet our schools are suffering. Cleveland alone is looking at 6-800 teacher layoff, as well as several thousand in the state. 300,000 across the country is just downright shameful. Who wants their child in a class of 30, 40, or more? Especially if your child is in need of extra help, but doesn’t quite qualify for intervention. We are going to leave multiple children behind. Isn’t education about the children? I wish these politicians would see that, and remember how they got to to where they are today. Fortunately for me, my job situation has changed, but for many others, especially those with more than one or two years, finding another teaching job has become even more competetive. Good luck to all who are seeking jobs, hang in there, and as I have told many othes lately, chin up!
Why teacher jobs? District and DOE eat up alot of education money in their salaries alone; then they buy into useless programs like Learning Focus Stratagies (4.5 million per district!)-then we say “Oh, it is the teacher’s fault!” There is an Inquisition/Witch Hunt alive against our truely dedicated teacher workforce!
Salaries of school board members should NEVER exceedthat of the highest paid teacher in the district; the same application to DOE members.
Want to see education dollars increase? Reduce the “kick backs” from foolish programs and high salaried officials who have “paper mill university credentials”. LOOK WHERE THE REAL PROBLEMS EXIT and quit blaming the teachers!!!!
I want to thank NEA for giving us a voice in Congress and helping in our states. But NEA by itself is just one voice among many competing to be heard. NEA’s true power rests in each of us, in our willingness to contact our legislators, write letters to the editor, volunteer in phone banks, become a member of The NEA Fund for Children and Public Education, go to rallies, get our colleagues and friends involved, and, yes, vote. Imagine what we could do if even half of NEA’s 3 million members contacted their Senators and Representatives on the educators jobs bill currently in Congress. How many school jobs could we save? How many students would we be able to help avoid larger class sizes and curriculum cutbacks? I don’t think it does us any good to argue about the color of the drapes when our house is on fire. I share the frustration and anger over the target on our back. That said, I choose to do my part, however small, to work for change with my school colleagues and NEA. So I say, “THANK YOU, NEA,” for giving us the information and tools we need to control our own future.
Yes, where is the NEA here in Florida as the Senate and House in Florida fast track a bill that will wipe out teacher pay based on experience and advanced degrees and tie salaries (50%) to student test scores? Where are they? I have a ld child who will NEVER be a good test taker, but is a great student? What teacher will want to teach him and others like him if their salary depends on it? Teachers will not be given an annual contract for five years….four of the five years they will have to show improved test scores. Prior to that, they can be fired without cause. Isn’t this why teacher unions began in the first place? This will be the wholesale destruction of public education in Florida which is just what Jeb Bush wants. He couldn’t get vouchers in while he was governor so he is sneaking it in now so that eventually all his rich friends can start private schools where public dollars can then be spent. If tying teacher salaries to test scores is so effective, why don’t private schools operate that way? Becuae it’s not an effective evaluation of a teacher and for me, as a parent, I look at my child’s work week to week to guage his progress. This one test determines all garbage is nonsense. Get corporate men and government out of education policy. NEA fight for teachers and education in Florida.
Rosemary, thanks for your comment and the work you do every day. NEA is working closely with the Florida Education Association to defeat Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 7189 and to generate public support against the legislation. Also actively under consideration are legal options should the bill be signed into law. NEA has provided staff support, organizing assistance and significant financial support to help with FEA’s legislative strategy and communication efforts – e-mail, phone calls, letters, TV, newspaper and radio – to ensure that the message gets out that the bills are an assault on public education, educators and students. NEA also posted an article on our website (http://www.nea.org/home/38833.htm) titled “The Worst Bill in America?” NEA will continue to stay in close contact with FEA to fight this bill and pursue whatever remedies are necessary. In partnership with FEA, we will do everything in our power to stop these anti-teacher bills. Finally, we would urge you to contact FEA President Andy Ford (andy.ford@floridaea.org or 850-201-2800) for additional information and to find out how else you might be able to help.
AMEN!!!!!!
Amen! Rosemarie has it right; Felix needs to realize the union “leaves us out in the cold”-NEA has the power; it has the lawyers…wherre is the help? A more radical approach by the union and some active support is what we need to change the “witch hunt/ Inquisition taking place in this nation.
Two senate bills (SBX5_1 and SBX5_4) were passed in the state of California despite the objection of the Education Coalition representing 6.2 million school children.
Is this what the government is calling listening? Our legislators are paying homage to lobbyists. They have completely ignored the voice of educators.
Our democracy was built on an educated population. I hope what happened to the California Hihger Education system does not happen to K-12. Our democracy will suffer.
As a parent of 2 and someone who is very proactive in my kids education I am very concerned about the state of education in our country.
I just found out our principal of the elementary school has been transferred to a new school and has the ability to take any and all of the teachers, administrators, and other staff with her. What does that do to the quality of education in the school that we currently attend?
I am all for career advancement but at what cost?
I think first and foremost parents need to be back in the equation. Teachers and schools have been given too much to do in addition to academics. We are expected to teach the children how to tie their shoes, use their manners, and on and on. What happened to what parents are expected to teach their children?
I also think we spend too much time teaching children how to take all those tests that are designed to measure how well teachers have taught and how well the children can figure out what to do on these “assessments”. Teachers are spending way too much time teaching to the test and not teaching the skills they need to teach to ensure student progress and success. When all of these children are finished with their schooling, will they be ready for the world or just able to take a variety of tests?
I think the players in Washington need to come out and spend some time in classrooms. Not for just a day but for a week or a month with no dog and pony show, just the plain old reality of what we deal with day in and day out. I think it would be an eye opener for many of them. Education is being run by people who haven’t been in a classroom in a very long time (if ever) or who were never trained to be educators in the first place. Why don’t they try asking those of us who are in the trenches for the long haul about what we think needs to be done to improve education in the United States???
Until and unless the teachers will be the policy makers, things will get worse. The main problem is that there is no code of conduct for the students and no consequences for bad behavior and children will just keep testing the limits. As of now, there are no limits. I have taught in Europe 25 years ago, but when I started teaching here (about 20 years ago) I realized that the standards are too low to ever compare European schools with NYC schools. As other teachers have mentioned, the parents do not do enough. I am teaching now children of my former students who were pregnant while in high school and never had time to offer their children a good education. Things are getting worse every year and the society will have to deal with it at some point in the future. Luckily, I am not going to be around to see it.
The only input the union wants is my yearly dues. Now really NEA, nobody sees anything wrong with the whole Race To The Top program?…. LOL! It’s ok to speak up.
I have been screaming about this. No one will pay attention until it is too late. If we (teachers) were to quit NEA and stop giving them our dues, maybe they would listen. I am going to start a drive for this in my district. Race to the Top was “snuck in the back door” while health care issues were going on. The NEA in my district did NOTHING to inform teachers nor did they ask for our input. We need to be LOUD about this. Kudos to the 10 states that refused to become part of the new Federal Government Education sysytem!
This comment area is like a pin hole camera…embarrassing.
You are not likely to see change either…The “Talk back” set up will make sure NEA stays on point for the agenda that does not include member views.
I am REALLY concerned that I am not seeing anything coming from the NEA in regards to Race to the Top. If this is the case, sitting back waiting, when you have 3 million members, maybe those members should start asking some questions? Indiana is in store for a WAR with testing, evaluations, $400 million in cuts (again) and NOTHING is being said. NEA…..where are you? I applaud your efforts to be the “nurse” for our state union, ISTA, as it too, is in trouble. We need to stick together….or they’re going to stick it to us!!!!
I too agree that NCLB did force schools and teachers to pay attention to all subgroups within their schools and classrooms. However….
-I am concerned with the fact that we test students in March when school does not end until June. I have heard that the test is suppose to contain material from the end of the previous year into material covered in the current school year. I know from working in a Title I school that a huge amount of learning is lost of the summer and a majority of things need to re-taught at the beginning of the school year, so that rationale makes no sense to me.
-I do not think that it is fair that students who are new to our country are given one year before they have to take the state test. How does one person learn the entire english language and any background knowledge needed to pass this test?
-It bothers me as an educator that I spend more time stressing about my place in the curriculum guide, my students’ test scores, and my subgroups, than worrying about my homeless students needs, such as food and a warm place to sleep. I did not become an educator to help someone pass a state test, I became and educator to make a difference in students lives. Show them what they could be and how to be better people.
-We have students in my school who are homeless, boys on the verge of gang life, girls who are torturing others with girl on girl bullying, but I have no time to help them with these issues, because I spend all of my class time and planning to make sure that they pass a test. Our children are worried where their next meal is coming from not finding “the area of a closed figure”.
-As a professional, I want to be evaluated on the basis of my passion, love, patience, extra efforts, professionalism, and the individual growth of my students. Instead I am judged and evaluated by a test score.
-We can’t expect that all of our children will be internally motivated to stay in school until they graduate high school. Some students need to be externally motivated which means that school, should be a place where they feel safe and place where they sometimes enjoy themselves. Students do not enjoy taking a test every month for 2-3 hours. Nor do they enjoy lessons in which I have to cram information at them hoping they master an objective in 1-2 days before I rush to the next objective.
-I love my job and my students. I stay up late and attend many conferences and professional development opportunities, but somedays I think to myself “This is not why I became an educator”.
I teach special education in a middle school in Southern California. My school is a PI-5 school because of special education scores. Our middle school receives special education students from five to six elementary schools, so our population is counted as one of the sub-groups. We do have access to the CAPA which our severely handicapped students take and to the California Modified Assessment, which still tests grade level standards only shortens the passage, increases the text size, and provides more white space on the page. Only 2% of the special education students are permitted to take the modified test.
I work extremely hard to have my students improve. I celebrate when a student improves a score. I had one student last year who improved 77 points in math; however, she started at far below basic and remained at far below basic. The improvement was dramatic; the result continues to fail! If my students are proficient, I move them out of special education. The students who remain with me are not proficient, nor will some of them ever be proficient due to the nature of their disability. I question the likelihood of 100% special education students ever being proficient, regardless of the test they take. General education teachers are very leery about taking the special education students in their classes, particularly with the talk of merit pay based on scores. Charter schools are not, I feel, the answer. Charter schools can pick and choose the students who enroll. If a charter school chooses to accept a special education student, it is the district in which the student lives that is responsible for providing the service and it is on the district’s not the charter school’s results that that student’s scores are reflected. I believe that NCLB did a great job in forcing schools and teachers to not become complacent about the education of ALL students. I have a problem with NCLB not recognizing the bell curve – not all students are capable of being proficient. The system now, with the lack of vocational training, is forcing those students to fail. No more can a student graduate with a diploma unless the high school exit exam is passed and all academic requirements are met. Special education students are the primary sufferers of this view. My students are, for the most part, intellectually average. Due to processing difficulties they do not learn at the same rate or the same way as most students. In addition, learning disabilities do not go away. There are options for these students in order for them to be contributing members of society. NCLB does not allow for those options. I am never complacent about the education of my students. My expectations are high; I expect them all to succeed. I cannot tell you how it saddens me that I and my students are responsible for this school to be considered a failure.