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Write to your Senator or member of Congress

Call your Senator or member of Congress and urge them to support S. 1979 and stress how important it is that it be included in the NCLB reauthorization.

When Writing

Use the talking points to craft a brief letter (no more than a page) to your Member of Congress and be sure to add a personal anecdote that highlights the impact of effective professional learning. You can fax or e-mail your letter, but do not send by regular mail. Given security precautions, it can take weeks or months for your mail to be opened.

The easiest way to email your Member of Congress is to go to their web page and fill out a "web form" which you can easily find by visiting www.house.gov or www.senate.gov.

You can also use Congress.org to email your Member of Congress. To do so, visit: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ and:

  1. Input your ZIP code in the box to the left
  2. Select your Member of Congress to contact
  3. Click on their e-mail
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the list and select "Compose Your Own Letter"
  5. Fill in the form and when complete hit "Send Message"

When you're done, please send an e-mail to rene.islas@learningforward.org to let M. Rene Islas know that you've sent a letter. This will allow us to keep track of our contacts.

Once you've discovered how easy it is to do this, encourage others to make their own phone calls.

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear (name),

I am writing to encourage you to support Senate Bill 1979 which I believe will substantially improve the quality of teaching and leadership in American schools.

Reforming schools is challenging. Multiple innovations directed at the district, the curriculum, the test, the length of the school year, the community, etc., can make a difference. What makes the greatest difference, however, is the quality of teaching in classrooms.

Senators Reed, Obama, Brown, and Murray understand the importance of high-impact professional development and deserve support for introducing School Improvement through Teacher Quality Act of 2007 (S. 1979). The legislation makes key changes to NCLB in support of effective professional development and recognizes that quality teaching occurs when teachers and principals engage in daily, collaborative, rigorous, professional learning focused on the learning needs of students in their classrooms and schools as a part of their work day.

Under this legislation, educators will have time to learn and work together to deepen content knowledge, plan instruction, examine student work, address different student learning needs, clarify student learning outcomes, and use the results of frequent classroom assessments to modify instruction. Secondly, it will foster collective responsibility among educators for student and teacher success creating a perfect recipe for improved school performance.

(Add a paragraph here about the difference that quality professional development has made in your own school or district.)

Thank you in advance for supporting this work. I would be pleased to talk with you at any time to tell you more about the difference that S. 1979 would make in my (school or district).

Sincerely,

Tools for Schools, Feb./March 2008 Members can download the entire Feb./March 2008 issue of Tools for Schools to learn more about advancing the professional development policy agenda. Nonmembers can buy the issue online.




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