Education Action
This post will be used as a follow-up to our first annual PrESS Network retreat. Here we will begin planning our work to explore No Child Left Behind with the Louisville area and decide how we might best partner with Jonathan Kozol and Education Action.
posted by adam at 4:40 PM
6 Comments:
PrESS Network 1st Annual Retreat
7/7-7/9, 2006
First of all, thanks to Randi for all your work in organizing and arranging our first annual retreat. It was great to be away with all of you: sharing some downtime, exploring a beautiful space, reaffirming my decision to teach and serve others, and making plans for the future.
In planning for the future, it was decided that we should attempt to coordinate our efforts with Kozol’s Education Action group that will focus on NCLB, specifically attempting to resist its reauthorization in 2007.
To help and to prepare, it was suggested that we begin holding regular meetings, again, once/month. At these meetings, we could do similar work as we’ve done before in terms of providing support for one another in the work we do, but also focusing our attention around NCLB. DECISION: When would we like to hold these meetings? Is once/month sufficient? Would reading something like _Shame of the Nation_, Kozol’s new text, be of benefit?
Another aspect of meetings and an ongoing discussion on the blog should involve investigating NCLB (http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml). One way to help Education Action would be to educate the local Louisville area (parents, teachers, community members) about NCLB through a series of monthly forums beginning in October. DECISION: What topical issues should headline these forums? (standardized testing, military recruiting, parental choice, funding/penalties (AYP), “proven methods,” “Highly qualified teachers”)? Where should we hold these forums? (at local community centers: Americana, Portland, etc.)? Would we like to invite outside groups to help sponsor? (Rethinking Schools? Kentucky Youth Advocates? Jobs with Justice? Fairness?)
Should this plan look viable, I will be happy to craft a letter to Kozol, letting Education Action know of our thoughts and ask for any assistance they can provide.
Aside from the benefit of learning and sharing more about No Child Left Behind, we will ultimately be planning to join Education Action in the march on Washington, D.C. when it comes time to debate reauthorization of NCLB in 2007.
What do you think?
Since I was there and in agreement with our direction, this is to encourage those who did not attend; ones who may be riding on the fringes for now. It is easy to slip into status quo thinking unless we hang onto the ideals that once energized us. Come on people, do you think many people teachers, neighbors, parents, family, and friends) understand NCLB? Teachers generally oppose while parents usually approve NCLB. Neither knows the details very well. Besides, it is largely unfunded. This means that even if all the components were wonderful, there is not enough money to back it up. (Remember we are fighting a war!) We need to educate ourselves, parents, other teachers and the public if we going to participate in reversing this drive towards privitization of America's schools. Can a democracy exist without public education?
Good discussion so far. While I am not opposed to meeting the week of the 24th, I might suggest waiting until the 2nd Tuesday or 3rd Thursday of August, as we might be able to get more folks to the meeting. A few of our PrESS members (people who I know might contribute more) currently have class on either Tuesday or Thursday nights. Plus, Milton gets back August 1 and I know he'll want to help in this endeavor. Just a thought. What do you think?
I'm also planning to get a draft of the letter to Kozol out to everyone by the end of the week for feedback, so that I can touch base with Education Action and let them know what we're up to.
July 21, 2006
Dear Mr. Kozol,
Thank you for the invitation to join you in the struggle. You are much admired at our university and among our progressive educator network. It would be a privilege and honor to work alongside you as we attempt to improve schooling and education for all children in the US.
Upon receipt of your initial letter, I was in contact with Nayad, indicating that we would be very happy to join the effort and that we would begin brainstorming about possible activities here in Louisville. We have done that and I want to share with you an outline of our plans. First, though, I’d like to give you a little history of our network.
Our network began meeting regularly in the spring, 2004, after a couple of graduate students approached me about concerns they had regarding moving beyond their masters and certification program into the classroom, specifically related to what they forecasted would be a lack of critical discussions surrounding social difference and social justice at their respective schools. From that impetus, we gathered several students from their cohort, a few students from past cohorts, and a few other faculty and community members in order to talk about this concern. As a result of these initial meetings, we decided to organize the Progressives Engaged in Struggle Support Network (the PrESS Network). This organization, then, would serve several functions: (1) act as a support network for grad students, faculty, teachers, and others in service to our community by meeting on a monthly basis to discuss our current work; (2) challenge the membership to stay current on theory and recent readings in education (to date, we have read hooks’ Teaching to Transgress, Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Solnit’s Hope in the Dark, and Ayer’s Teaching toward Freedom. Shame of the Nation is next!); (3) serve our local community (e.g., we organized and ran a reading clinic last summer at a local Boy’s and Girl’s Club); (4) present our work at national conferences (e.g., twice we have spoken at the American Educational Studies Association and plan to talk at the Pedagogy and Theater of the Oppressed Conference this coming academic year); and (5) attempt to coordinate our efforts with other organizations of a similar mission, which is one of the reasons our network appeared in a recent edition of Rethinking Schools. You can follow the work of our group and join in any of our discussions at: http://pressnetwork.blogspot.com.
As with any network geared toward social justice work, our membership and participation in the network increases and decreases, given that many if not most of our
members are ultra-involved in many separate efforts for social justice, which pulls us in
many directions. Typically, we maintain 35-40 folks on our distribution list with a core
of 10-12 accomplishing most of the work in the network. We look forward to drawing more into this core, particularly as it relates to Education Action, which may help coordinate several of our separate efforts.
Again, as a result of your initial letter, we met, retreat-style, in a cabin outside of Louisville at scenic greenspace along the banks of the Ohio River. At this recent meeting, we decided to attempt to coordinate a series of forums that would dissect and deconstruct No Child Left Behind for teachers, parents, and concerned community members. We are planning to hold five forums—October, November, January, February, and March—surrounding the following topics (that follow closely with NCLB rhetoric): parental choice, proven methods, highly qualified teachers, stronger accountability, and local freedom. Obviously, there are many issues that could fall under the umbrella of any of these cleverly worded concepts. We plan to hold these forums at local community centers and to advertise through schools, churches, and community organizations. Ultimately, we want to be educated and prepared to join Education Action for any mobilization toward DC when the reauthorization is debated.
We look forward to hearing back from you regarding our plan and any other plans you are aware of through other contacts. We hope that you might also consider joining us in Louisville for one of our forums or recommending others, such as Nayad, Rachel, Erin, and/or others.
You have been such an inspiration through your work as a writer and activist. We look forward to sharing this struggle with you.
In Peace,
Adam Renner
and The PrESS Network
The PrESS Network is a critically-engaged, hopeful, and supportive voice for change. It's members are dedicated to affirming the basic rights of and creating realistic solutions with children and families who are disenfranchised by an unjust socio-economic structure. This empowering partnership seeks to facilitate system-wide change through respect for social difference, humanistic teaching, service to others, transformative dialog, and an ever-evolving journey toward connectedness.
Adam's letter is essentially what we discussed and agreed on. "Become educated,then educate." Eyes will be opened when people begin to understand NCLB.
Very well said - I do not see the need for any revisions to the letter.
Count me in the struggle on all accounts!
I would be able to attend meetings in August - but am swamped currently.
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