Amplifying the Teacher Voice in Federal Policy

Teachers sharing their expertise at a Coalition for Teaching Quality briefing on Capital Hill in 2014

The National Council of Teachers of English Washington office team, under Darren Cambridge's leadership, worked closely with teachers around the country and organizations that represent them to advocate for policies that improve conditions for literacy learning. Our work helped win authorization of the comprehensive literacy program in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. We worked with Senator Murray's staff to design the program and to secure $190 million of funding for it in FY2016. We also succeeded in defining professional development and allowable uses in Title II of ESSA to align with the collective capacity building approach. 

To advance a teachers' agenda, members of its executive committee and I wrote NCTE's policy platform. I crafted recommendations for policy makers and brought members to Washington for briefings and advocacy days on the Hill. We contributed leadership to the inter-organizational advocacy groups Advocates for Literacy and the Coalition for Teaching Quality, building strong relationships with other advocates and policy makers in Congress, the White House, and the Department of Education.

NCTE Executive Committee member Lisa Scherff Warren outside the Capital during Advocacy Day 2015, which we made a success in the midst of a blizzard that shut down the city