wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 437-United Methodist Women advocate for

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

United Methodist Women advocate for improvement in schools

Aug. 2, 2005

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -Democracy and economic well-being in the United
States depend on education, the foundation on which many possibilities
are built, said a former college professor and leader of United
Methodist Women.

Jan Love, chief executive of the Women's Division of the United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries, was among the speakers focusing on
education and improving America's schools during a July 29-31 summit in
Nashville, Tenn.

One hundred-fifty women from rural, urban and suburban settings, with
various experiences in the education system, engaged in conversations to
set direction for the 1 million United Methodist Women in the United
States and to give them tools to advocate for public education.

The summit brought together United Methodists involved in public
education and speakers from the Parent-Teacher Association, the National
School Board Association and the United Church of Christ's Public
Education and Witness Office to offer information and engage
participants in outlining the roles all must play to increase the
quality of public education in the United States.

At the conclusion, the participants provided the Women's Division with
"concrete outcomes" of their discussions that outlined individual
responsibilities and recommendations for how the entire United Methodist
Women's organization can be a more effective advocate for education and
public schools.

They recommended creating an advocacy network for grassroots work among
the women from various religious and civic spectrums and laying the
foundation for skills training for future events to equip United
Methodist Women for work in local settings around public education
issues.

Educators, including Susan Dalton, coordinator of the Tennessee
Education Association, provided updates on "No Child Left Behind," a
bill signed into law by President Bush in 2002, that holds the country's
90,000 public schools accountable for increasing the achievement of the
nearly 50 million children and adolescents enrolled in them.
Standardized test scores measure the students' achievement.

Throughout the summit, teachers, principals and administrators discussed
the anxieties and pressures they are feeling three years after the
bill's passage, as well as its impact on education in the United States.

Jan Resseger, a member of the National Council of Churches and the
United Church of Christ's Justice and Witness Ministries, recounted
conversations she has had with public school teachers who not only
shared their pain about NCLB, but also voiced justice concerns resulting
from the act.

"They told me how painful it is for your school to be labeled a failure
when you are doing the best you can in a career you thought you loved
and when many of your students are thriving," she said. "Then they told
me how much they worry about the children who are so far behind and who
are being identified as the cause of their school's failure."

Dalton outlined 10 changes she said would improve "No Child Left
Behind," including flexibility at the center to make education better
for all.

Former leaders of United Methodist Women - Mai Gray and Sara Shingler -
provided a historical overview of the organization's involvement in
public education, both domestically and internationally.

The education summit, part of the third phase of the United Methodist
Women's Campaign for Children, sought to "answer certain questions like,
'What can we really do to impact education in our country?' and 'What
are the tools we need to impact it?'" said Julie Taylor, the division's
executive for children, youth and family advocacy.

The campaign, renewed in 2002, focuses on advocacy in public education
and bringing awareness to the United Methodist Church that every child
should receive good quality, free and accessible education. The 2004
General Conference readopted a 2000 resolution, "Public Education and
the Church," calling on all United Methodist constituencies to support
public education and become better informed about the needs of public
schools in the communities and in the country as a whole. Since 1976
each General Conference has adopted and reaffirmed resolutions calling
the United Methodist Church to impact education in society.

Each of the summit's speakers and participants in small group
discussions echoed the 2004 resolution's proclamation that "public
school is the primary route for most children into full participation in
our economic and community life."

Love, in her keynote address, called access to basic skills through
publicly funded education a part of God's promise of abundant life. The
issues around making quality public education available to all are the
result of "our unwillingness to make it work! We know a variety of ways
to fix what's wrong with public education. The problem is we lack the
will," she said.

"The issue of public education is relevant to us not only as women of
faith who know the saving power of Jesus Christ, but also as citizens of
the United States who know the liberating experience of democracy and
freedom," Love said. "I believe the crisis of public education is not
only an issue that goes to the heart of our Christian faith and
faithfulness. I believe it is also a struggle for the soul of our nation
and our world."

Faith speaks to public morality and the ways that compassion and justice
should be brought into the civic life of a nation, Resseger said.
"Surely, this call for justice is relevant to needed reform in America's
public schools, for public education is the largest civic institution in
the United States," she said.

As speakers discussed the justice concerns in NCLB, the participants in
plenaries, small groups and outside conversations, talked about the
educational inequities that exist from community to community and state
to state.

Resseger, who is also a member of a NCC-UCC public education task force,
has visited schools across the country to assess segregation and uneven
school funding, language and cultural issues and the challenges facing
rural schools, to "become educated about and work to eliminate systemic
barriers to excellent public education for all."

She said the task force "believe(s) our society must set about far more
than merely demanding that schools improve, testing students to see if
they are improving and punishing the school districts that cannot seem
to improve." There is a belief, Resseger said, that if no child is to be
left behind, Congress should take major steps to improve the school
experience for those who are being left behind.

"Simply put, in a society that depends upon information, some American
children are given better access than other children," she said.
"Inequity in educational opportunity is a significant injustice because
education is the gatekeeper to opportunity." Resseger and Love agreed
that educational injustice is not easy to solve.

"We are called to justice as a public expression of our love for God and
all the children whom God has created," Resseger said.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in
Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

----------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this group, go to UMCom.org, log in to your account,
click on the My Resources link and select the Leave option on the list(s)
from which you wish to unsubscribe. If you have problems or questions, please
write to websupport@umcom.org.

Powered by United Methodist Communications http://www.UMCom.org