Elementary and Secondary Education Act Digital Learning Amendment Approved

Congratulations! Your voice was heard!
 
From The International Society for Technology in Education

On Wednesday, the senate committee that has jurisdiction over federal education programs listened to your voice and voted to include a dedicated digital learning program to its version of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Your letters were a critical element in passing the Innovative Technology Expands Children’s Horizons (I-TECH) program.
 
ITSTE worked with Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to craft the I-TECH program, which would replace the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program. The I-TECH program would fund digital learning integration with a significant emphasis on professional development. In fact, 50 percent of funds allocated under I-TECH to school districts would be dedicated to professional development for digital learning.
 
Passage of this program demonstrates strong support from both Republicans and Democrats for digital learning, a rarity in an era when it is difficult to find common ground on anything. This digital learning victory is just one step in a very long process, which includes full Senate approval, passage of a House version of ESEA, and a final version approved by both chambers and the president.

Urgent! Action Needed on Elementary and Secondary Education Act

URGENT: If you support school libraries, NOW is the time (not later, not tomorrow, but RIGHT NOW) to contact your Senator to help save them.  We won’t have a better chance than this for years. 
 
The Senate HELP Committee will begin voting on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) on Tuesday, April 14 at 10 am.  School libraries are NOT already included in that bill, so we need to pass an amendment to fix that.  Even our paltry Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) funding has been cut.  Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) has agreed to offer an amendment calling for an effective school library program to be part of the bill…..but he needs at least 13 votes to prevail in the Committee. Your Senator is on that Committee and we badly need them to be one of those 13.  Unless you ask Your Senator for their vote, we won’t get it and NOW is the time….
 
Call your Senator right now.  Ask whoever answers for the “education staffer.”  Tell them, or their voice mail if necessary, how important school librarians are to students’ education and that the Senator needs to tell Senator Whitehouse NOW that they will support his “school library amendment” to ESEA.
 
PLEASE CALL NOW and get anybody else who cares about school libraries or education in your state to call as well.
 
If you are from the following states, you need to call this Senator NOW
 
Wisconsin call Senator Baldwin at 202-224-5653

Talking Points:
Point 1: While reading and books are mainstays of the school library program, today’s effective school library programs are also sophisticated learning environments that provide the education and necessary skills to succeed in college and the workplace.
Point 2: Across the United States, studies have demonstrated that students in schools with effective school library programs learn more, get better grades, and score higher on standardized tests than their peers in schools without such resources.
Point 3: NCES data reveals that approximately 8,830 public schools across the nation do not have a school library and for those schools that do have a library, nearly 17,000 schools do not have a full or part-time state-certified school librarian on staff.
Point 4: Effective school libraries:
1. Are staffed by a state-certified school librarian;
2. Have up-to-date books, materials, equipment and technology;
3. Include regular collaboration between classroom teachers and school librarians to assist with development and implementation of the curriculum; and
4. Support the development of digital literacy skills.