Contact: Mike Myslinski at 650-552-5324
BURLINGAME — Effective public school reforms should focus on proven ideas like providing smaller class sizes and more resources that help all students and all neighborhood schools achieve and succeed – not the one-size-fits-all mandates under consideration by lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., the teachers in the new CTA radio ads airing statewide starting today make clear.
These various “top-down ideas are just like No Child Left Behind – they’re not working for California students,” warn the radio spots airing in English, Spanish and several other languages in all media markets across the state.
One first-grade teacher says the consequences of continuing with NCLB-style reforms are great. They “fail to recognize the individual needs of my students. These misguided proposals could widen – not close – the achievement gap in our schools because they rely on test scores that label students as winners and losers. My students need smaller class sizes, art and music programs to give them a well-rounded education, and the resources they need to succeed.”
A high school teacher adds in the spot recorded in Spanish: “Instead of punishing struggling schools, we need to focus on reforms that work.” “En vez de penalizar a las escuelas que luchan por mejorar – necesitamos concentrarnos en reformas que funcionan.”
David A. Sanchez, president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association, concludes in the ads: “Classroom teachers know education reform works best when parents and educators work together to meet the needs of students in every neighborhood school.”
The 60-second spots are airing for three weeks on 85 radio stations in English, Spanish and several Asian languages. Listen to or read the spots at www.cta.org, where you can also read “CTA’s Principles for ESEA Reauthorization.” These principles reveal how California’s teachers want Congress to rewrite the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) this year to support students by erasing the punitive, one-size-fits-all elements from the 2002 reauthorization of ESEA signed into law by President Bush, the flawed No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).