November 3, 2002

Election Day: A Reality Check

Reg Weaver
President, NEA

Martin Luther King, Jr. said that if any people can create a nation "where all children receive as much education as their minds can absorb," it will be Americans. And I deeply believe that he was right.

But today, too many of our policy makers are avoiding their responsibility to support the education of America's children. Too many policy makers talk endlessly about how much they care about children and education without ever confronting the reality of what it will take to ensure that every child truly receives a quality public education.

Rhetoric, by itself, will not make a school better. Promises will not make a school better. Passing a law, by itself, will not make a school better. But purposeful action, adequate resources, respect for teachers and education support professionals, modern facilities, and small class sizes will make a school better.

When it comes to school reform, too many policy makers are in need of a reality check. They talk about tests, tests, and more tests as a measure of student and teacher success. But why bother administering all of these tests? Before the first child picks up a pencil to take the first test, I can already tell you what the results will be. If you have a well-funded school with quality teachers and support staff, modern facilities with adequate supplies, then the students are going to do just fine on the tests. But if you have a high-poverty school that is underfunded, a school where there are too few textbooks and too many students, and where there are too many uncertified teachers, then the students are going to do poorly on the tests.

Instead of meeting their responsibility to children, students, and public education, too many policy makers would rather talk about punishing teachers and schools that don't raise test scores.

Students cannot be tested into high levels of academic achievement. Policy makers cannot use punishments and threats as an inducement when teachers are already doing the best that they can with what they have been given. You cannot improve high-poverty schools by casting them into a "spotlight of shame."

You cannot, by edict of law, say that all children will magically achieve at high levels. We've got to focus on proven measures that we know will make great public schools: insisting on high expectations for all students, recruiting and retaining quality teachers, reducing class sizes, and creating school environments that are safe and conducive to learning.

Public schools are American democracy's greatest gift to its children. On Election Day, November 5, we have an opportunity to exercise our democratic right-the right to vote. Let us vote for candidates who have the conviction and the courage to do what it takes to ensure that every child has access to their civil right-a free, quality, public education.

Let us vote for candidates who really put children, public schools, and America's future first.

Reg Weaver

President, National Education Association

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