Just as NYSUT members are on the front lines of the fight to close the achievement gap, NYSUT, as a nationally respected voice, is leading the way in pulling together disparate voices on the most pressing issue in American education.

On Friday, delegates viewed a video that outlined NYSUT's role in a groundbreaking conference, "Every Child Counts," that was held last October about ending the gap.

Besides table-setting comments by NYSUT officers, the video focused on some of the renowned experts who spoke at the conference, including Pedro Noguera, Richard Rothstein and Kati Haycock.

The video also featured highlights of the major conference recommendations. Some of the themes included: expanding pre-K; creating a culture of high expectations; building partnerships with parents; investing in school-based health clinics; initiating new recruitment and retention efforts in hard-to-staff schools; and maintaning continued political activism to address flaws in national and state education legislation.

The video complements other tools delegates have been given to highlight NYSUT's coordinated efforts. Those tools include a new DVD-and-CD set that shows much of the discussion and all the recommendations of conference participants.