View Content #4690

Contentid4690
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TitleNew ELL Advocacy Organization
BodyAnnouncing … The Institute for Language and Education Policy
Research-Based Advocacy for Schools and Communities

Dear Colleague: You are invited to join with us in building a new organization dedicated to promoting research-based policies in serving English-language and heritage-language learners. We believe this mission has never been more critical. In a time of misguided “accountability” measures, high-stakes testing, cutbacks in school funding, and English-only activism, strong advocacy for children is essential. Scientific knowledge about what works – not ideology or political expedience – must guide public policy. Our goals are ambitious:

- Encourage and disseminate research on education policy and practice.
- Educate the public and policymakers about the benefits of bilingual and heritage-language education for individuals, communities, and the nation as a whole.
- Represent the needs of English language learners as Congress moves to reauthorize – and, we hope, reform – the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
- Support grassroots efforts by local and professional organizations to secure adequate resources for quality language programs at all levels.
- Combat English-only legislation that threatens to restrict the rights and educational prospects of language-minority Americans.
- Create professional development opportunities for educational practitioners.

Our immediate plans include launching a Web site to advance this agenda; producing research briefs on timely issues; working with news media to elevate the level of public discussion; developing a national network of expert-advocates; and seeking funding that will be needed to achieve our goals.

Download the full document from http://users.rcn.com/crawj/Announcing.pdf .
SourceThe Institute for Language and Education Policy
Inputdate2006-06-14 12:47:00
Lastmodifieddate2006-06-14 12:47:00
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Publishdate2006-06-19 00:00:00
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