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Student Achievement
NEA Resources
Arts Education Disappearing
When tap shoes are silenced and paintbrush bristles left to harden, student achievement suffers—often at the schools where the arts are needed the most. (NEA Today, January 2007)
Closing the Gaps
In his February 2006 radio message, NEA president Reg Weaver said NEA is committed to closing the achievement gaps in America's public schools by focusing on teacher quality, adequate funding, and parental involvement.
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Culturally Responsive Teaching
Race and poverty don't need to be the elephants in the classroom. As culturally responsive teaching takes root, these issues can actually help your students learn. (NEA Today, November 2006)
The College Game
Low-income and minority students often lack basic supports when getting ready for college. Read on for innovative ways NEA members are helping kids navigate the system. (NEA Today, November 2005).
The Shame of the Nation: The Resegregation of America's Schools
Jonathan Kozol has spent four decades writing about the terrible and wonderful things that happen in low-income, minority schools. In his most recent book, he shows with hard numbers and personal stories the impact on children of the growing resegregation of America's public schools (NEA Today, November 2005).
Let's Talk About Skin
Educator Rita Tenorio in this article offers age-appropriate activities and ideas for raising issues of race and social justice with young children. Tenorio is also an editor at Rethinking Schools (NEA Today, September 2005).
Giving Migrants the Gift of Literacy
It's 9:30 a.m. at Denee's Trailer Park in Apopka, Florida, and while many migrant parents are working in local fields, fisheries, or nurseries, others are huddled in the trailer-turned-classroom where NEA member Sonia Mariani-Hendrickson is about to start a lesson on literacy (NEA Today, October 2002).
Civil Rights Activist Gives Students Boost in Information Age
Find out why Bob Moses thinks an education in algebra is a matter of civil rights. And he knows more than a little about both subjects. Moses, a math teacher since the 1950s, was also a civil rights leader in the 1960s and fought hard in the the battle to end literacy tests for Black voters in the southern U.S. Learn about his Algebra Project aimed at exposing more kids to advanced mathematics before high school (NEA Today, October 2002).
Learning: Problems & Solutions, Time Machines and Basic Facts
Find out how one Atlanta school faced the challenge of educating low-income students (NEA Today, September 2002).
Beyond Taco Tuesdays
There's a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. in your hallway, a pâpier maché Chinese dragon in the library, and your first-grade assembly includes a Mexican Hat Dance. But if you think you have diversity all covered, you don't! (NEA Today, May 2000)
Inside Scoop: Race, Wealth & Academic Achievement
Sociologist Dalton Conley says racial differences in family assets, not culture, explain achievement gaps in school performance. While magazines and newspapers have run articles that explore why middle-class Black children don't do as well in school as white children from families with similar socio-economic backgrounds they fail to factor in what may be the key determinant to socio-economic status—family wealth.
(NEA Today, September 2000).
Interview with Janell Byrd-Chichester: School Segregation—Then and Now
School segregation is on the rise after it was declared illegal in the "Brown v. Board" decision. Here's it's impact on today's students (NEA Today, September 2000).
Race and Schools: The Need for Action
We have become a nation that accepts separate and unequal schools as if nothing can be done about segregation. As a nation, we expect our schools to create equal outcomes for students who leave their homes severely disadvantaged by family and community poverty, who arrive at their schools to find sometimes unqualified or inexperienced teachers, and who leave those schools as soon as they can.
NEA on Prekindergarten and Kindergarten
We're making the case that states should provide mandatory, full-day public school kindergarten and access to universal, nonmandatory, full-day prekindergarten. We believe that prekindergarten and full-day kindergarten are good for all children, but especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds (PDF, 748 KB, 16 pages).
Culturally Responsive Teaching: What is it and how can you achieve it?
In a world of diversity these seven principles can help educators adapt their strategies to meet the needs of all students.
Guide Offers Strategies for Helping All Students Succeed
Check out our "C.A.R.E.: Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gaps." It provides a multi-themed approach to teaching that focuses on Culture, Abilities, Resilience, and Effort (C.A.R.E.).
Education Groups Collaborate To Improve Staffing in Needy Schools
A report by the Learning First Alliance offers a framework for ensuring the nation's neediest students access to effective teachers and school leaders. "A Shared Responsibility: Staffing All High-Poverty, Low-Performing Schools with Effective Teachers and Administrators," lays out a comprehensive set of actions to help the nation's poorest and lowest-performing schools attract and retain the most qualified staff.
NEA, Foundation Fund Partnerships Boost Achievement
We have awarded grants to two union-school district partnerships—one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the other in Chattanooga, Tennessee—that aim to boost achievement for disadvantaged and minority students, while raising achievement for all groups of students.
Closing the Achievement Gap: Helping All Students Achieve
Find out why Kati Haycock says we need to we need to focus on what really matters: high standards, a challenging curriculum, and good teachers in order to increase the achievement levels of minority and low-income students. Her article was originally published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Student Achievement Resources from other organizations
Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities
This report from the National Center for Education Statistics presents a selection of indicators that illustrate the educational achievement and attainment of Hispanic, Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander students compared with each other and with White students.
English Language Learners (ELL)
Li'l Language Learners
'Head, shoulders, rodillas y dedos del pie' (NEA Today, May 2008)
Acclimation Station
How do you help immigrant students transition to life in American schools? Enter the newcomer center—now being used to help Asian Pacific Islander students in Hawaii. (NEA Today, May 2007)
Almost From Scratch
For some refugee students Somalia, their arrival in a Minneapolis classroom isn’t just their first time in a U.S. school. It’s their first time in any school (NEA Today , May 2007).
The Best of Both Worlds
Bilingual education teaches respect, confidence, and language skills
(NEA Today , May 2007).
 English-Language Learners (ELLs)
Southern and western states have seen their populations of ELLs increase by more than 200% over the past 14 years (NEA Today, February 2007).
Something to Talk About
English-only laws are restricting more than just what's being said.
(NEA Today, November 2006)
NEA Members Refuse to Let Language Be A Barrier
According to the U.S. Department of Education, children enrolled in our schools bring with them more than 425 first languages. We talked to ELL specialists, who offer strategies and tips for reaching English learners (NEA Today, January 2006).
Beyond Practice and Drill
Check out these easy, high-tech ways to help students master the English language.
(NEA Today, January 2006)
Educating English Language Learners An Analysis of Emerging Research
English Language Learners -- students who speak another language at home -- now account for 40 percent of California's student population. Their teachers are both on the front line and responsible for the bottom line when it comes to providing these students with the skills and knowledge to survive and thrive in the United States (July 2005).
English Lessons
When students don't speak English, what's the best route to classroom success—and high test scores (NEA Today, May 2002).
Ensuring The Immigrant's Daughter, CEO's Son Have Same Opportunities
NEA knows that making sure all students meet high standards under NCLB and its requirements to close achievement gaps cannot happen without teachers meeting high standards and an infusion of new resources (NEA Today, October 2002).
Bilingual and ELL Resources
Check out our compilation that includes articles and curriculum resources.
Accommodating ESL Students in The University (PDF)
This article by Kristi L. Kanel proposes that true cultural responsiveness must include certain accommodations for the ESL students. Building such an organization culture at the university level would help ESL students to enter professions in which they would clearly be useful.
Individualized Instruction Key for English Learners
Hear what eduators have to say about dealing with the academic needs of a student population with diverse language backgrounds.
Resources for Teachers of English Language Learners
From videos and e-mail classroom connections to digital curricula and films, see what we've rounded up.
ELL Resources from other organizations
Spanish Translations for Education Terms
Washington's Center for the Improvement of Student Learning, in partnership with the Migrant and Bilingual Education Program at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, has released an in-depth English/Spanish glossary of education terms from around the state. This valuable resource for educators and parents will help alleviate confusion when translating or reading education documents.
Teaching Mathematics and Science to English Language Learners:
It's Just Good Teaching
This publication from the Northwest Regional Laboratory focuses on the diverse needs of students in inclusive classrooms. It looks at social and academic languages as well as home languages.
"Disproportionate Representation of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Special Education: Measuring the Problem" (PDF, 12 pages) from the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (2004)
Lesson Ideas
NEA's Read Across America offers the following booklists. Many are ethnic-themed.
Teaching About Tolerance
These five lessons including bursting stereotypes and using music have the power to make a difference in students' lives—and in the world those students will create.
The Civil Rights Movement in American Literature
This monthly themed content package offers interdisciplinary activity ideas, TV programs and online resources for your classroom.
Member Spotlight
Staying in the Game
Meet Sylvia Colston-Still. This 72-year-old former physical education teacher was a star player on her high school team in the 1950s and still loves the game. She plays three to four times a week. “I think I’ll be playing basketball until I reach 100.”
(This Active Life, March 2007)
Latino Member Climbs Mountains to Level Playing Field
When Elias Chapas of Ypsilanti, Mich. told his high school guidance counselor he wanted to be a teacher, the response wasn't encouraging. "Why don't you go to work in the factory making cars" suggested the counselor, "like the rest of your kind."
(This Active Life, November 2007)
Tragedy Forced California Teacher to Change Kids' Lives
Paul White, after a 17-year old student died in his arms, vowed to make his one-room West Valley Leadership Academy more than a daily holding facility for alternative students. He made some innovative changes and now, more than eighty percent of his students graduate. Find out what made his program so successful.
(NEA Today, March 2006)
Courageous Conversations about Race in Our Schools
Meet Seattle educator Jacob Ellis and find out why he says, "We need to confront the fact that minority children are disciplined more harshly than white children."
(NEA Today, March 2006)
A Lifetime Fighter for Rights and Respect
Retired special education teacher Agnes Chavis of North Carolina empathized with the discrimination experienced by her students. Find out why this Lumbee Indian and daughter of tenant farmers felt such a strong need to fight for the rights of all students regardless of ability and ethnicity.
(This Active Life, September 2005)
Diversity Pioneer Goes Green
Most gardeners dabble in a few types of plants that interest them most, spending an hour or two planting and pulling weeds when they can. Then there's Sara Flores.
(NEA Today, May 2005)
Equity in School Funding
State-by-State Funding Shortages
The so-called "No Child Left Behind" Act without flexibility and resources will fall short of its laudable goal: high achievement for all students. NEA research shows that the Administration’s budget proposals are leaving behind millions of kids nationwide including the disadvantaged, English-learners, preschoolers, and college students. Find out how many are being left behind in your state.
Report Says Schools Lack Funding to Comply with NCLB
According to the Center on Education Policy about 80 percent of school districts said they had costs associated with No Child Left Behind that were not covered by funding. The study, "From the Capital to the Classroom" also said that in 2004-05, 27 percent of schools failed to meet "adequate yearly progress" and faced stiff penalties.
65% Funding Scheme: More Deception than Solution
It's promoted by its backers as a way to increase funds for classroom use, but the promotional rhetoric is actually meant to obscure the scheme’s actual consequences. Find out why it would, in fact, cripple schools as they work to serve the needs of their students.
65% Deception: Status in the States
We’re successfully convinced state legislators that the 65% one-size-fits-all budget yoke on individual school districts is bad policy. Here's a state-by-state look.
Tax Credits Have Changed Higher Ed Funding, but Who Benefits?
Find out why state treasuries, not students have benefited from the unintended consequences of the Hope and Lifetime Learning tax credit programs.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), renamed the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act of 2001, established laudable goals—high standards and accountability for the learning of all children, regardless of their background or ability.
Unfortunately, the law is seriously flawed and underfunded. But the importance of NCLB's goals demands that we work to "fix and fund" the law. NEA is supporting that commitment through public awareness, legislative lobbying, and member empowerment—working for things children need to be successful.
Take a look at these NEA Resources to learn more about NCLB and how it affects education your communities.
Additionally:
The Learning First Alliance, a partnership of NEA and 11 other leading national education groups, has developed a practical guide to talking with your community about NCLB and schools in need of improvement under the new federal requirements.
We've also developed:
- ESEA Toolkit (PDF, 31 pages) helps NEA member educators work with state and local policy makers on ESEA implementation.
- ESEA Action Guides (PDF, 177 pages) offer a comprehensive look at the law with definitions, timelines, and best practices on ESEA implementation.
- ESEA and Teacher Qualifications (PDF, 4 pages) provides valuable advice on ESEA's new teacher quality measures.
- ESEA and AYP (PDF, 6 pages) takes a look at states' initial activities.
- ESEA and Tutoring (PDF, 8 pages), a best option for supplemental services under ESEA.
Vouchers
Teachers, parents, and the general public have long opposed private school tuition vouchers — especially when funds for vouchers compete with funds for overall improvements in America's public schools.Take a look at the educational, social, and legal cases against them.
Charter Schools
NEA believes that charter schools and other nontraditional public school options have the potential to facilitate education reforms and develop new and creative teaching methods that can be replicated in traditional public schools for the benefit of all children. Whether charter schools will fulfill this potential depends on how charter schools are designed and implemented, including the oversight and assistance provided by charter authorizers.Learn more about our policy on charter schools.
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