We want to hear from the children you know! Ask your students, children, neighbors, or nieces and nephews "What changes should Barack Obama make to help YOU and other students succeed in school?" Comments submitted before Tuesday, December 16, may be featured in January's whole child podcast or an ASCD column. Please include the child's first name, grade, city, and state. Submit children's comments by replying to this post or e-mailing wholechild@ascd.org.
December 2008
Recently, we shared three key pieces of legislation with you: the GRADUATES Act, SCHIP, and the Increased Student Achievement Through Increased Student Support Act. Many of you analyzed and evaluated the importance of each piece of legislation and took action. To date, approximately 2,000 letters of support have reached members of Congress. Excellent student learning looks like this. Students learn something; analyze and evaluate the knowledge; and then apply it, act on it, or create something with it. Let's continue to model how to put learning into action.
Change.gov recently received more than 3,500 reader comments about health care. Members of President-elect Obama's health care transition team, including former Senator Tom Daschle, responded to these comments. It's time to make our voices heard about education. We can do better, and we can do more.
Act Now! Tell President-elect Obama's transition team why we need education policies and practices that educate the whole child. Share the critical education issues in your neighborhood. Consider one or more of the following questions to help you get your message across about the issues in your community.
- What is the effect of the issue in my community?
- What does this mean to my local school, school district, and students?
- What is the cost of not doing anything on this issue?
- What possible actions can be taken? What are the consequences of these actions?
- Who else cares about this issue in my community?
Modeling matters. As we challenge our kids to put learning into action, we must set the standard. Click here for more tips on how to get your message across to legislators.
Download Podcast Now [Right-Click to Save]
How can we hold schools accountable, while ensuring that students receive a rich education, graduate from high school, and are prepared for the challenges of the 21st century? This month on the whole child podcast, we hear from three experts.
-
Richard Rothstein, research associate, Economic Policy Institute
How can the public hold schools accountable for preparing our students to do more than score well on reading and math tests? Rothstein describes the broader vision for accountability he suggests in his new book, Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right.
-
Tommy Bice, deputy superintendent of the Alabama Department of Education
How has Alabama responded to its growing dropout crisis? Learn about Alabama's First Choice, the state's newly revised requirements for high school graduation which set a new level of high expectations for Alabama high school students.
-
John Brown, author of Educating the Whole Child: An ASCD Action Tool
How can schools and communities become accountable for ensuring students are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged? ASCD consultant John Brown explains how schools can implement a comprehensive planning process that will surpass our current conception of accountability while ensuring that all children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.
How can we hold schools accountable, while ensuring that students receive a rich education, graduate from high school, and are prepared for the challenges of the 21st century? This month on the whole child podcast, we’ll hear from Richard Rothstein about his vision for broader accountability system, which he describes in his new book, Grading Education. We’ll ask Tommy Bice, Deputy Superintendent of the Alabama Department of Education, about how Alabama is responding to the growing dropout crisis with its First Choice plan. Finally, John Brown, author of the Educating the Whole Child: An ASCD Action Tool, will explain how schools can implement a comprehensive planning process that moves beyond our current conception of accountability to ensure that all children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.
What is the local impact of the current system of accountability on the whole child and what actions do you think Congress and the Obama administration should take to hold schools accountable for a whole child education?
This month’s podcast will be available for download Thursday, December 4. Listen to archived episodes anytime by visiting http://podcast.wholechildeducation.org.
