Learning: Innovators
Changing Is Fundamental

It's not the RIF you think you know.

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is best known for its National Book Program, which in 35 years has put more than 200 million books into the hands of children. But these days, under the leadership of Bill Trueheart, the organization is making a new name for itself, both in the community and online, as it looks for new ways to promote reading.

"As a child, I spent every day reading in the library, and that love of literacy spilled into my work," says Trueheart.

Today, RIFNet brings literacy experts and authors into classrooms and homes via cable and satellite television. A program on May 16 will feature multicultural books.

Educators discuss literacy practices in RIF's online forums.

RIF also runs six community literacy programs, including Family Readers, whose goal is to involve parents and other community members in encouraging children to read.

Running Start, for first graders, operates in all Delaware elementary schools and in other areas as well.

Shared Beginnings helps teen parents prepare their infants to read.

In Books on the Menu, the oldest students in an elementary school become "bookmates" for younger children. The program focuses on books about food.

Several programs are under development. "We're seeing what works and what doesn't, and we'll grow from there," says Trueheart.

RIF's National Book Program operates in more than 18,000 sites--10,000 public schools and 8,000 other sites, from homeless shelters to Boys' and Girls' Clubs.

Last year, RIF books reached more than four million children. Funding comes from many sources, including the U.S. Department of Education and public school PTAs.

For More: Visit RIF on the Web at www.rif.org.

A Journal From the Trenches

NEA member Bob Peterson, a fifth grade teacher in Milwaukee, started Rethinking Schools newspaper 15 years ago with an old computer and a can of rubber cement. With a circulation of 42,000 today, the paper addresses education and social justice through the eyes of classroom teachers. Peter-son is one of eight editors who are full-time teachers.

Why did you start Rethinking Schools?
Some of my colleagues and I were dissatisfied with the shallow analysis of education issues in journals and the mainstream press.

We are the only national teacher-run publication. We focus on social justice issues, especially race.

Why should educators care about social justice?
Teachers must see the connections between student learning and social policies. The overwhelming majority of teachers in America are white, and they teach an increasing number of minority children.

As white teachers, we have an aversion to talking about race, but the color line continues to divide our society. We have a responsibility to put issues like race on the table. We have to constantly ask ourselves what messages we are sharing with children, particularly white ones.

What other issues do you address?
We try to take key issues like school finance, vouchers, high-stakes testing, and accountability and break them down in a way that is user-friendly. If teachers and parents understand the issues, they are better equipped to fight for what schools and kids deserve. We also explore innovations in teaching so educators and students can talk back to curriculum mandates.

What have been your biggest successes?
People across the country have formed Rethinking Schools study circles, using the publication as a reason to get together and talk about issues.

They also use our publication and Web site to connect with like-minded teachers.

But the biggest success has been helping to convince people that there are no quick fixes for improving education. Teacher quality and equitable and adequate resources are the first steps.

For More:
Visit www.rethinkingschools.org. Peterson is at repmilw@aol.com.

A Film on Family Diversity

Innovator:
Debra Chasnoff

Job:
Director, Women's Educational Media; director and producer, That's a Family!

Bright Idea:
Sometimes, the words children speak to each other have the most impact.

That's the premise be-hind Debra Chasnoff's new film--That's a Family!-- which is narrated by and stars children being raised in nontraditional families including single-parent, multiracial, divorced, guardian, adoptive, gay, and lesbian.

That's a Family! was designed to help K-6 teachers address tough issues with their students.

"Some people think adoption is when your birth mom just dumps you on the street and someone comes to pick you up. But that's not true. Kids get adopted because birth parents aren't ready to take care of children," says Sam.

"Some kids think divorce is their fault. But it's not. Your parents just don't want to be with each other anymore, but it's not your fault," says Montana.

"On Father's Day, I just sit around and do nothing, because there's really nothing to do because I don't have a dad. Well, of course I have a dad, just not with me. I don't know where he is, but I know he's out there," says Fernando.

"When I was five years old, my mom started doing drugs. She got sleepy and stressed and didn't want to cook dinner. My grandma saw what we were going through, and came and got us," says pre-teen Brittany.

The children get right to the heart of what they wish other children and adults would understand about their families.

The film makes the point that today, "different" families are the norm.

"There's a lot of name calling and teasing that goes on for children from nontraditional families," says Academy Award winner Chasnoff, who directed the film. "We hope teachers will use our film to reach students who live with unspoken doubts and fears --and with tough questions from other kids."

The film has won the support of the PTA, YWCA, Child Welfare League, and Girl Scouts. It has been adopted by several school districts.

For More:
Visit www.womedia.org or call 415/ 641-4616 to order the video and teacher's guide ($75).

No Innocent Bystanders

Innovator:
Ron Slaby

Job:
Scientist, Education Development Center; lecturer, Harvard University

Bright Idea:
After years of researching the links connecting violence, media and children, Ron Slaby made an important discovery: Bystanders to violence--friends, parents, and teachers--have incredible power over events. "In the recent school shootings," he says, "whether or not bystanders condoned violence, and whether or not they told what they knew to authorities, they made the difference between life and death."

Slaby has developed a middle school curriculum--Aggressors, Victims and Bystanders: Thinking and Acting to Prevent Violence--that prepares children to stand up to violence safely.

It has been featured on an NEA Safe Schools Now broadcast and adopted by many school districts.

"If a potential shooter knows his friends won't admire or ignore a planned attack, the chances of his acting are less," Slaby says.

"We can no longer justify bullying as typical schoolyard behavior. The consequences today are much more severe with so many children having access to weapons," he adds.

"Our society is inundating youth with violent images and scripts. In some cases, schools are the only places where kids will learn violent behavior is wrong."

For More:
Contact Erica Machika at Education Development Center, 800/225-4276, ext. 2737. For upcoming Safe Schools broadcasts, check www.nea.org/issues/safescho/broadcast.

Standards for the Standards Movement

Innovator:
Marcie Dianda

Job:
Leader of an NEA staff task force that wrote standards for assessing the progress of standards-based school reform.

Bright Idea:
"The standards movement holds a lot of promise, but it needs mid-course corrections," says Marcie Dianda. Her team at the NEA came up with a way to help NEA affiliates make those corrections.

They wrote a set of 10 standards covering the most important aspects of education.

Standard Nine, for example, reads: "All stakeholders are accountable for making standards-based education work." That includes politicians and parents, Dianda points out.

Standard Three says, "All students are taught by teachers with the knowledge and skills to teach to high standards." Districts that hire teachers on emergency credentials, or force teachers to cover classes outside of their fields, are not doing well on that standard.

The standards come with detailed suggestions for using them to assess how well schools are doing. Dianda calls the package an "audit tool."

The point is not just to criticize school districts, Dianda explains. It's to help districts improve. These are high standards, and no district is likely to have reached all of them, but all districts can work toward achieving them.

The audit tool is intended for use by state affiliates and large locals, either on their own or with other education groups.

The team carrying out an audit, Dianda says, should include people on the front lines of education. The tool will guide the team as it collects information. The result would be a report on the state of school reform--what's working, what's not, and how to do better.

Dianda says the audit tool can be useful as a basis for discussions even where a full audit is not practical.

For More:
E-mail Dianda at MDianda@nea.org.