Policy
NEA is taking a leadership role in improving achievement for all students and closing the achievement gaps, particularly for low-income and minority students. To do this, NEA is collaborating with state and local affiliates and external partners on developing and implementing effective policies that facilitate this work and support the efforts of its members.
In 2006-2008, NEA is assisting at least 12 states with securing public policies and associated funding for closing the achievement gaps. NEA provides information, resources, and technical assistance to support state affiliates' efforts to secure policy changes to close gaps through:
- Passing statewide legislation
- Changing state regulations
- Modifying the scope or content of negotiated agreements or local contracts
- Changing state affiliate policy to position the affiliate for statewide action
The following resources highlight the work being done in NEA's state affiliates, and offer ideas on how to impact policy that will help to close the achievement gaps.
Resources from NEA
NEA Policy Briefs (Spring 2008)
These new briefs support our vision for creating Great Public Schools for every child.
- Growth Models--A More Accurate Way To Determine Student Progress (
 PDF, 186KB, 4pp)
- Changing Role of School Leadership ( PDF, 224k, 4pp)
- Full-Day Kindergarten Helps Close Achievement Gaps ( PDF, 169k, 4pp)
- Parent, Family, Community Involvement in Education ( PDF, 178k, 4pp)
- Disproportionality: Inappropriate Identification of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children ( PDF, 202KB, 4 pp)
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Closing Achievement Gaps: An Association Guide (2006) ( PDF, 743K, 110 pp.)
This NEA report offers examples of advocacy in action at the state, local, and national levels; partnerships with policymakers and national organizations; research-based bargaining strategies; model legislative proposals; professional development activities, products, and other resources; organizing strategies for mobilizing members; and success stories from state and local affiliates grappling with this complex issue in creative ways.
The Workplace Matters: Teacher Quality, Retention, and Effectiveness (2006)
Summary ( PDF, 315K, 6 pp.); Full Report ( PDF, 505K, 32 pp.)
Schools serving large student populations with achievement gaps may also have trouble retaining teachers. Recent research is revealing a great deal about how changes in educational practices and policies can revamp classrooms and schools to close the achievement gaps and promote excellence in learning for all students. Author Susan Moore Johnson describes what research says about workplace conditions that support effective instruction and professional growth. It also suggests that more talented teachers can be retained through improvements in workplace conditions, particularly at hard-to-staff schools.
"Truth in Labeling" (NEA Today, January 2003)
African-American students show up in certain special education categories -- the ones where the diagnosis is largely subjective -- in numbers that so exceed their proportion in the general population, that some experts are now calling it a crisis. In "Truth in Labeling," NEA Today looks at the reasons why this happens -- and what can be done to ensure that a special education referral is based on a child's needs, not his race.
Theories of Learning and Teaching: What Do They Mean for Educators (2006)
Summary ( PDF, 410K, 6 pp.); Full Report ( PDF, 478K, 32 pp.)
Recent research is revealing a great deal about how changes in educational practices and policies can revamp classrooms and schools to close the achievement gaps and promote excellence in learning for all students. This new NEA report, by Suzanne M. Wilson and Penelope L. Peterson, describes what current research says about the learning process and details nine concepts of learning, knowledge, and teaching that have formed the basis for recent education reform.
NEA on Prekindergarten and Kindergarten (2004) ( PDF, 748K, 16 pp.)
NEA believes that all children ages three and four should have access to prekindergarten programs that are high quality, universal and publicly funded. Research shows that a child exposed to good preschool programs before age five will reap lifetime benefits. Quality preschool also increases the chances of a student doing better in early grades, closing the achievement gap and graduating from high school
Full-Day Kindergarten: An Advocacy Guide (2007)
Full-day kindergarten is an essential bridge between pre-k and the primary grades. NEA believes that full-day kindergarten is a critical component of closing the achievement gaps for young children from non-English speaking and low-income families.
Prekindergarten Info on the Web
A list prepared by NEA of various resources related to topics involved in prekindergarten research, including reviews and meta-analyses of the literature, policy discussions, and cost analyses related to state-funded prekindergarten programs.
Talking Points on High School Attendance, Graduation, Completion and Dropout Statistics (2006)
This research-based brief fills in the blanks on who stays and who goes, the benefits of a GED, and provides information on both the personal and societal costs of dropping out. It also highlights linked references for more information on the subject.
Talking Points on Small Schools (2005)
This brief lists key research facts about small schools, including their bigger benefits to disadvantaged students. Benefits to all have been found to include raised student achievement, increased attendance, and improved school climate.
Talking Points on English Language Learners (2005)
This brief of research-based talking points discusses the number and types of English language learners, or "ELLs," in schools, the specific challenges they face, what kind of programs are available to them, and how well they are doing academically.
Talking Points on High School Reform (2005)
This brief discusses findings from a research review of national and state trends in high school reform, including sets of characteristics that high performing high schools share in common, such as a focus on closing achievement gaps.
State Legislative Successes (June 2007)
Brief stories of nine NEA state affiliates that have secured public policies and associated funding for closing the achievement gaps in 2006-07, seven of them with help from an NEA Grant to Close Achievement Gaps, which was made available to interested states.
Reducing the High School Dropout Rate
Recognizing that approaches singularly focused on only one contributing cause of dropouts have failed to curb the nation's growing dropout crisis, NEA has a 12-point plan that combines the efforts of parents, teachers, business leaders and lawmakers using tactics tried through research and professional experience.
Collective Bargaining for Improved Student Achievement: A Missed Opportunity
Bill Raabe, director of the National Education Association's Collective Bargaining & Member Advocacy Department, makes a point that collective bargaining and improving student achievement aren't mutually exclusive.
Closing the Student Achievement Gap by Closing the Teaching Quality Gap: Reframing the Debate (2005) ( PDF, 222k, 17 pp.)
A research brief from NEA's Visiting Scholars Series, presented by Barnett Berry from the Center for Teaching Quality, Inc. on April 7, 2005.
Resources from Other Organizations
Study Finds Acquiring Heritage Language Helps Native Students Achieve Academically ( PDF, 43 pp.)
Native American and Hawaiian children who learn their heritage language typically learn English no slower than their peers enrolled in English-only programs and generally outperform those same peers on standardized tests, according to "Language Planning Challenges and Prospects in Native American Communities and Schools," a study from the Language Policy Research Unit at the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University by Mary Eunice Romero Little and Teresa L. McCarty.
The National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics: Para Nuestros Niños
Funded by a grant from The National Child Development Foundation, The National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics was established in May 2004 for the purpose of identifying major educational challenges facing Hispanic children throughout the United States from birth through the primary grades and making recommendations for actions.
The New Demography of America's Schools: Immigration and the No Child Left Behind Act ( PDF, 46 pp.)
One in five school-age children, now, is a child of immigrants. NCLB poses challenges for children of immigrants, LEP students, and the schools serving them, particularly those with large numbers of children of immigrants. And, with its emphasis on testing, NCLB may narrow classroom focus to subjects covered by the standardized tests, especially in schools that have difficulty meeting their performance targets, changing the quality or nature of education received by children of immigrants and LEP students. But NCLB also has the potential to improve the education of children of immigrants and limited English speaking children. U.S. immigration, the challenges it poses for schools now, and the potential within policies for improvement, are each explored in this Urban Institute report.
The Rural School & Community Trust
The Rural School & Community Trust is a national nonprofit organization addressing the crucial relationship between good schools and thriving communities. Their mission is to help rural schools and communities collaborate. The Rural Trust provides a variety of services -- training, networking, technical assistance, coaching, mentoring, research -- and materials to increase the capacity of rural schools, teachers, young people, and communities to develop and implement high quality place-based education
Public Education and Black Male Students: A State Report Card (2004) ( PDF, 52 pp.)
This report is both an invitation to learn and a call for action, and while it highlights the end results of the school experience, it also directs attention to contributing disparity factors, such as special education designations, in- and out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) results, where available. Other factors, such as in-school arrests, juvenile incarceration and college prep course participation must be examined thoroughly on a school-by-school and district-by-district basis as we begin to improve public education for our most vulnerable students. The report also provides a guiding set of benchmark indicators for demonstrating serious attention to the status of Black male students in the states.
Would Smaller Classes Help Close the Black-White Achievement Gap? (2001) ( PDF, 49 pp.)
Smaller classes would help reduce the achievement gaps according to Princeton University's Alan Krueger.
WestEd Policy Brief - Reforms That Could Help Narrow the Achievement Gap
Richard Rothstein, Research Associate at the Economic Policy Institute, outlines a series of reforms, in addition to school improvement, that could help narrow the achievement gap.
The National Indian Education Study (NIES), Part I: NAEP 2005 Performance by American Indian and Alaska Native Students
NIES is a two-part study designed to describe the condition of education for American Indian Alaska Native students in the United States. Part I looks at students' NAEP performance.
Tracking Achievement Gaps and Assessing the Impact of NCLB on the Gaps: An In-depth Look into National and State Reading and Math Outcome Trends (2006) ( PDF, 82 pp.)
The report compares the findings from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) to state assessment results and concludes that that high stakes testing and sanctions required by NCLB are not working as planned under the NCLB.
The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion From High School Through College (2006) ( PDF, 223 pp.)
This Education Department study of college completion predictors finds that rigorous high school coursework, no delay in college enrollment, and taking college courses over the summer (after enrollment) are what help keep college students on track. These same predictive scenarios help close attainment gaps for minority and disadvantaged students.
From Teasing to Torment: New National Report on School Bullying (2005) ( PDF, 19 pp.)
GLSEN (The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) announced the results of a new survey conducted on its behalf by Harris Interactive. The national survey of over 3,400 students aged 13-18 and over 1,000 secondary school teachers, explores students' and teachers' experiences with bullying and harassment, and their attitudes about this serious problem in America's schools. "This study clearly illustrates the prevalance of bullying and harassment in America's schools and that students who experience harassment are more likely to miss classes which can impact a student's ability to learn," said Kevin Jennings, founder and executive director of GLSEN.
Family Involvement and Student Success
Children's academic success is linked to the learning supports that are around them. The family is one support that is closest to the child. How to cultivate awareness, promote discussion, and encourage family involvement in a child's education is part and parcel of the Harvard Family Research Project's complementary learning approach to help close the achievement gap.
National Collaborative Report: Assessment of Diversity in America's Teaching Force (2004) ( PDF, 515k, 16 pp.)
Focusing specifically on the roles ethnicity and cultural competence play in student achievement, participants reviewed research on the impact of culturally responsive pedagogy on children. They also studied demographic data on the growing diversity of America’s schoolchildren and the static composition of the teaching force. After this review, participants voiced widespread concern about these demographic disparities and their negative impact on the quality of education for all children. In addition, participants noted that although teacher quality has been accepted and internalized as a mantra for school reform, the imperative for diversity is often marginalized rather than accepted as central to the quality equation in teaching.
As a result, the participating organizations agreed on the need to create the National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force (the Collaborative). The Collaborative’s primary mission is to infuse the issues of teacher diversity and cultural competence into the education policy debate, at both state and national levels, with the same vigor and frequency as the issue of teacher quality.
Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives
The National Center for Education Statistics, within the Institute of Education Sciences, has issued a report on the status of American Indians and Alaska Natives. This report describes the educational experiences of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
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