Eight Ways to Work for NCLB Reform

1) Hold a public forum in your community to discuss NCLB.

2) Build local alliances that link testing reform from your school/community to state and federal issues. Reach out to teacher unions and other education organizations; parent, community, civil rights and faith-based groups; labor unions; civic associations; business groups when you can.

3) Persuade your organizations to pass resolutions calling for reform of NCLB. (Such resolutions are often issued by unions, religious groups, professional associations, and parents groups.) Ask them to:

a) Endorse the Joint Organizational Statement signed by more than 150 national organizations.
b) Support the NCLB overhaul recommendations of Forum on Educational Accountability.
• See material on both at http://www.edaccountability.org.

4) Write letters-to-the-editor and op-ed pieces for your local and regional newspapers.
• See How to Work With Your Local Media, http://www.fairtest.org/get_involved/media.

5) Get your local school board to pass a resolution or hold a community forum about NCLB.

6) Contact your U.S. senators and representatives about changing NCLB:

a) send them letters with copies of news clips, resolutions, and/or signed petitions
b) call them with your concerns
c) set up small group meetings with them in your district; bring other parents, teachers, and/or local elected officials to the meeting.
• To contact your members of Congress, go to http://www.contactingthecongress.org/.
 

7) Contact your state legislators to enlist them in the effort to reform NCLB.

a) send them letters, call, and/or set up meetings
b) seek their commitment to pass resolutions in the State Legislature about NCLB reform and to work with your state’s Congressional delegation to change the federal law.

8) Parents: Join the NCLB-mandated Parents Advisory Board at your child’s school.

a) make sure it is an independent voice for parents
b) work to minimize the damage caused by NCLB at the school.
• See www.fairtest.org for fact sheets, reports, and other materials on NCLB.