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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2000

News Release

NEA Conference Tackles the Standards Movement

Teachers will share hopes, concerns and effective strategies

Washington, D.C. -- Hundreds of teachers and other education employees from across the country will address the hot topic of standards and accountability at a day and a half-long National Education Association (NEA) Conference June 29-30 at the Hilton Hotel and Towers in Chicago, Il. "The Standards Movement: What has it done for us? What has it done to us? What have we done about it? What can be done about it?" is expected to generate heated discussion as NEA members share both hopes that the drive toward higher standards will benefit students, as well as concerns about problems teachers and schools are facing when standards-based reform is put in place in a haphazard, short-sighted way.

The NEA's annual Instructional Issues Conference is a forum of some two dozen workshops and discussions centered around a major issue area and aimed at enhancing skills in teaching and learning. Open to the more than 9,000 delegates attending the Representative Assembly, this year the conference will include an extra half-day "Gallery Walk" to allow participants additional time to share experiences and learn more about ongoing NEA programs to improve teacher quality and student achievement.

NEA President Bob Chase -- a strong supporter of high standards -- will address the troubling practice in too many school systems of rushing standards-based reform into place without proper alignment of standards, curriculum and testing, and without adequate preparation or professional development. Too often, it's "done on the cheap," he says. The NEA president will argue for the need to provide enough resources to ensure that all students can meet the new standards. "It's morally wrong to hold children to high standards, to threaten them with retention or failure unless we are willing to give students and teachers the tools they need to succeed." Chase believes "our challenge is to rescue standards-based reform. Our challenge is to do it right."

Noted education expert, Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond will deliver the conference keynote address on the morning of June 30th. Dr. Darling-Hammond, known nationwide for her work in educational research on school reform and student achievement, will address the role of quality teaching in the standards movement.

Conference attendees will learn about ways NEA members are using standards-based math education to boost student achievement, receive tips on making sense of state and district standards and high-stakes tests, hear how teachers at one low-performing school successfully used student data to set improvement goals, and discuss the role of state and local education associations in supporting and advancing teacher quality.

The conference kicks off at 2 p.m. June 29 with "poster sessions" -- a walk through of current NEA programs ranging from recruitment and retention of quality teachers to the Baldrige in Education program to improve school success. Opening remarks and a welcome from Anne Davis, President of the Illinois Education Association, begin at 8:30 a.m. June 30. Dr. Darling-Hammond's keynote is at 9:30 a.m., followed by workshops at 11:00. An open conversation with Dr. Darling-Hammond and NEA members will take place at 12:45 p.m.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.