Advertorial in Education Week, March 29, 2006

As Phi Delta Kappa International celebrates its first 100 years of leadership, service, and research in education, we are ever mindful of the need to look forward, to listen to the voices of today’s students and tomorrow’s teachers, in addition to the voices of experienced educators, parents, and concerned citizens. Our commitment is to advocate on behalf of all students who deserve and must have high-quality, universally available schooling if democratic societies are to survive and thrive.

In any endeavor, progress and success depend on research and development that inform and enable change. This is no less the case in education than in other complex undertakings. For practical purposes to make a difference in classrooms, R&D in education mean closely examining theory and practice — What makes a good teacher? How do teachers increase student achievement? What involvement strategies turn parents into partners in their children’s education? How do we increase new teachers’ resilience and keep them in the profession? Examining these questions guides development, including creating more meaningful forms of assessment, well-honed instructional strategies that help close the achievement gap, and initiatives, such as teacher-to-teacher mentoring, that build competence and staying power in those new to the profession.

One PDK focus this year is the No Child Left Behind Act, which comes up for reauthorization in 2007 and embodies a sentiment that resonates with concerned citizens everywhere. Although this is an American law, the spirit of providing the best possible education for all children is a core value in all thoughtful societies. The education theory that guides NCLB has been tested; state and local education enterprises have put NCLB into action. And as action research, NCLB has now given us experiences about which we are poised to ask important questions: What has worked? What has NCLB achieved? Where has it fallen short? And how can this law be improved in the reauthorization process?

Throughout this year we are gathering information about educators’ experiences with NCLB. This summer a group of educators will take part in our London travel experience to exchange views with British counterparts, giving specific attention to education initiatives in the United Kingdom that are similar to those embodied in NCLB.

Also this summer, as PDK has for the past 37 years, we will look closely at the public’s understandings, concerns, and desires in the PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. The results of the 38th poll will be summarized in a fall issue of our journal, the Phi Delta Kappan.

The high point of our centennial year will be the PDK Summit on Public Education in Washington, D.C., October 19-21. On the first day of the summit John Merrow, who anchors “The Merrow Report” on PBS, will moderate as panelists tackle questions about what we have learned from experience with NCLB to date and what should be changed for NCLB 2007. The next day John I. Goodlad, president of the Institute for Educational Inquiry and author of the PDK classic, What Schools Are For, will present the keynote address. Following the keynote, there will be time to continue the dialogue and to meet Goodlad and Merrow. Breakout sessions over the three-day conference will further develop the summit theme.

In light of the century-long commitment by Phi Delta Kappa International to advocate for high-quality, universally available education, we are keenly interested in engaging our members, chapters, and other concerned educators in an effort to inform the national debate surrounding the pending reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. PDK believes that grassroots R&D efforts expanded by subsequent dialogues are essential in order to make NCLB work by making it better in 2007.

Phi Delta Kappa
International
408 North Union Street
P.O. Box 789
Bloomington, IN 47402-0789

www.pdkintl.org
Information@pdkintl.org
Phone 812/339-1156
Tollfree 800/766-1156
Fax 812/339-0018

Support for this message provided by the Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation