Teachers as Policy Advocates

This book argues that teachers' active participation in policy advocacy is crucial to creating a K–12 educational system that honors the needs of students, families, and communities. The authors examine obstacles to teacher involvement in policy, analyze preservice and practicing teachers' experiences, and present a model for collaborative professional development for teacher policy advocacy. Case studies are used to explore four contemporary policy areas—school safety, student assessment, public health, and digital learning—to identify what teachers know about policy, how they view their relationships to advocacy, and the impact of collaborative professional development on their beliefs and practices. This text offers pragmatic strategies for increasing teacher policy capacity and advocacy agency while simultaneously calling for systemic change at school, district, state, and national levels of policymaking. Teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and administrators can use this resource for reflection, discussion, and action with the goal of creating more effective and responsive educational policy.Book Features:Offers recommendations for how to engage and empower teachers based on original research conducted with student teachers and practicing teachers in two states.Explores how policy affects teachers and students in areas such as school safety, standardized assessments, the COVID crisis, and using digital tools in schools.Helps school administrators identify supports and challenges for incoming teachers.

May Hara is an associate professor at Framingham State University and has taught middle school English and English as a second language in the New York City public school system. Annalee G. Good is an evaluator and researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at University of Wisconsin-Madison and has taught middle school social studies.