The Save our Schools March and National Call to Action wrapped up in Washington, DC this weekend. The event consisted of a two-day conference and followed by a march and rally in the nation’s capital. The event, hosted by a grassroots teacher advocacy group called Save Our Schools, was staged in protest to many of the reforms promoted by the current administration.
A spokesperson for the March organizers, Bob Schaeffer, said that after the rally there were “tremendously high spirits…everybody thought the march and conference that preceded it did exactly what they wanted. They delivered the right message.” So what is that message, and what should policy analysts take from it?
Save Our Schools (SOS) was established by DC area classroom teachers and teacher educators in an effort to get their voices heard on the educational issues of the day: No Child Left Behind and the Race to the Top. The SOS website explains: “Though we have the knowledge, the expertise, and the relationships with students that make education possible, teachers, parents and students themselves have been shut out of the school reform discussion…we demand a humane, empowering education for every child in America.”
Although SOS has a number of demands, many of which are unlikely to gain much traction in this reform era (including the end of high-stakes testing and no new school closures based on performance), reformers should heed the message that teachers are feeling left out of well-intentioned reforms and largely un-heard and undervalued.
Education policy has changed more in the past two years than it has in a decade, but if teachers are not feeling that their voices are being heard, we are undermining the profession. The classroom is where the student meets the educational system, and the teacher is a necessary partner in any reform effort.
For research and background on many of the issues raised by the SOS marchers, Education Sector offers thoughtful commentary See the following: http://www.educationsector.org/page/edufacts-sos-march-context
