Advocacy
A Day on the Hill
by Kathleen Naylor, ARA Advocacy Representative
IN TEN DEGREES WEATHER with snow blanketing Washington, D.C., I had the privilege of attending the International Reading Association's Governmental RelationsWorkshop. The two and half days were informative and reinforced the need for educators to become advocates. The first day was spent in learning about the current education legislation that would be the focus of discussions when participants met with their state's legislators. Four bills are to be reauthorized during this session of Congress: Head Start,Workforce Investments, Higher Education and No Child Left Behind. In the House of Representatives the committee that will be working with these bills is the Education and Labor Committee and in the Senate it is the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. This is the time for educators to inform legislators about issues to be addressed in each of the bills.