July 2008 — News
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ISTE, NEA Tackle Role of Feds in Education
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What should the role of the federal government be in education? With the imminent exeunt of the Bush administration, the National Education Association (NEA) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), among others, have each begun developing their positions on the question in the hopes of influencing the next administration and Congress to embrace significant policy changes.
In its "Presidents Panel" at the NECC 2008 conference in San Antonio, TX Tuesday, panelists got together to discuss what they would tell the next President of the United States about the role of the federal government in education. Responses from the panelists--current and past ISTE presidents, as well as industry representatives--included "the need for strong federal leadership in education technology and adequate and reliable funding to achieve equity" and the "need for authentic assessment models, case studies and research to showcase the many successful ed tech projects and programs."
Said ISTE President Trina Davis, "We can accomplish so much more with our collective voice by getting plugged into organizations like ISTE and advocating at the local, state, regional, national and international levels."
As we reported previously, ISTE has also joined with a number of other education advocacy groups, including the National Education Association (NEA) for a public service campaign designed to bring ed tech funding and other issues to the forefront of the debate between the major presidential candidates.
Meanwhile, NEA itself is taking a more aggressive approach. The association this week released a scathing reproach against No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which it described as failing to live up to promises, and called on the future leader of the United States to transform the government's role in education.
The push for change at the federal level includes a new policy paper called Great Public Schools for Every Student by 2020: Achieving A New Balance in the Federal Role to Transform America's Public Schools. It calls on the federal government to drop its role as a manager of state and district responsibilities and adopt the role of supporter.
