The leaders of NYSUT's two national affiliates are rallying education professionals in New York and across the country with their visions for helping to close the achievement gap.

Speaking July 12 to more than 2,000 teachers, paraprofessionals and other members of the American Federation of Teachers, AFT President Edward McElroy proposed extending the school year into the summer to provide intensive instruction and enriching out-of-classroom activities for the nation's most vulnerable K-3 students.

"We are simply losing too many children during the long summer months, when they forget much of what they learned during the school year," McElroy said in his keynote address at QuEST, the AFT's biennial professional issues conference in Washington, D.C. 

One week earlier, his counterpart at the National Education Association, Reg Weaver, proposed a 10-point "education bill of rights for children" to include universal preschool, small class sizes, well-trained and well-paid educators, challenging curricula and quality textbooks, active parent participation, adequate and equitable funding, help for English language learners and special-needs students, a high school diploma or GED, equal educational opportunities and the use of multiple measures to determine student learning.

Beating the 'summer dropoff'

The AFT's proposal is designed to counteract the well-documented loss of knowledge that occurs during the summer months and is more severe for disadvantaged students. Although the program would be developed in each state according to its needs, McElroy proposed that the summer extension last a minimum of 20 days. If enacted, the plan would serve hundreds of thousands of students who have fallen behind their peers.

As outlined by the AFT leader, the summer extension would offer struggling students instructional methods proven to be effective, as well as experiences such as museum visits and educational field trips.

McElroy called for screening by teachers and other school personnel - beginning in prekindergarten and continuing through third grade - to determine which students would benefit from an extended year.

"We need to do a better job of identifying young children, from pre-K to grade 3, who start out behind - and continue to fall further behind," McElroy said. "Teachers are already identifying these children, but we need to build the intervention system into our schools."

Lee Cutler, a member of the NYSUT Board of Directors, agreed. "We, as educators, must be active in addressing the health of the children and the other factors that affect how they perform," said Cutler, a member of the Nanuet Teachers Association. "We can't work in a vacuum.

McElroy asked state affiliates like NYSUT to work with legislative leaders to develop state-by-state legislation to enact his proposal.

"Ed continues to put the AFT at the forefront of new ideas to explore in order to make American education excellent," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi. "That makes us proud."

McElroy also announced the release of "Charting the Course: The AFT's Education Agenda To Reach All Children." This statement of action priorities addresses five critical elements of school improvement: teaching quality; safe and orderly schools; early reading instruction and intervention; a common, knowledge-rich curriculum; and intensive assistance to high-poverty schools.

Ability to compete

Sounding a similar message for more than 8,500 delegates at NEA's Representative Assembly in Philadelphia, Weaver said America's future place in the world will be determined by its ability to protect and improve public education for all children.

"What worries me most, what keeps me awake at night," he said, "is the danger of losing our ability to compete in a new economy."

Boosting competitiveness will require focused, large-scale economic investment that reflects a true emphasis on quality education, Weaver said. A stronger economic structure and tax base would help guarantee adequate school funding, which in turn would ensure that school systems can meet the challenges they face. Only then, he said, is it sound to make demands about accountability as the No Child Left Behid Act seeks to do.

As Congress tackles the reauthorization of NCLB, Weaver - like McElroy - was critical of the controversial federal program.

"Even if we meet all of the criteria of No Child Left Behind, it still won't prepare our children for the 21st century," he said. "It won't give them the skills they need to think for themselves."

America, he said, has led the world in innovative technology because America's teachers have treated their students as individuals and taught them to think and solve problems.

During the NEA convention, NYSUT President Iannuzzi and Vice President Maria Neira joined other NEA leaders in calling on Congress to fix major flaws in NCLB. Neira appeared via satellite on Rochester's Channel 13, talking about needed changes to the law. Iannuzzi's interview with the New York News Connection aired on 26 stations across the state and was picked up by 460 Clear Channel news stations nationally.

Post-unification participation

While this was the first NEA national convention to be held since NYSUT's unification with the National Education Association of New York last September, it was not the first for many of the NYSUT delegates who had been members of NEA/NY locals.

"It's a very balanced convention," said Lola Kelly, president of the East Rochester Teachers Association, who has been attending the annual NEA Representative Assembly since 1988.

"What interests me always is that the delegates manage to accommodate both the needs of students and needs of the members," said Kelly, a member of the NYSUT Board of Directors.

The AFT represents 1.4 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers, paraprofessionals and other school support employees, higher education faculty, nurses and other health care workers, and state and local government employees.

NEA's 3.2 million members work at every level of education-from pre-school to university graduate programs.