Advocating for What We Believe
A few years back I had an appointment “on the hill” with an Oregon senator to talk with him about educational issues. I had scheduled the meeting to follow his visit with a group of students visiting from Oregon that included several students from my own school. As I watched him interact with the students, an amazing thing happened. One small, scruffy-looking boy (probably a seventh grader) walked up to the senator, stuck out his hand, looked him in the eye, and said, “Senator Smith, I’m glad to meet you and I want you to know I like the way you and Senator Wyden work together, I think you should increase funding for education, and that you should raise the speed limit on our rural highways.” At that moment it struck me that if a seventh grader can so clearly articulate what he believes to a senator, why can’t we as middle level leaders do a better job of advocating for what we believe?
It’s been a busy week at NASSP. We were asked to bring written and oral testimony regarding NCLB before the House Education and Labor Committee – and everyone has been in overdrive getting it perfected. NASSP President, Barry Stark (middle level principal from Nebraska) presented the testimony before the committee on Monday morning and an important component of the testimony was regarding the Success in the Middle Act. Earlier this year, NASSP joined forces with the National Middle School Association, the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, and a number of other education associations to form the Middle Grades Coalition on NCLB and promote our joint recommendations for NCLB reauthorization. As part of this effort, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced the Success in the Middle Act (H.R. 3406) to create a $1 billion Middle Schools Improvement Fund. This is the first piece of legislation aimed specifically at helping improve low-performing middle schools and deserves our support.
So what can we as middle level leaders do? Contact your representatives, let them know you support this piece of legislation, and urge them to do likewise. For ease of contact, you can use the PLAC site on the NASSP website. Remember the seventh grader? He knew what he believed and wasn’t afraid to act – if a seventh grader can do it, so can we!
PS. For more information on being an advocate, read an article I wrote for Principal Leadership a few years ago.
