Abstract
In the chapter I will discuss how the participants in the Facebook project Teachers’ Letters to Obama discussed and communicated the need to go beyond a focus on testing. Some of the policies we advocated for were additional resources and support for teachers, mentoring programs to make sure expertise is shared and turnover reduced, an increase in school libraries, and programs to respond to the health needs of students living in poverty and turmoil. Proponents of test-heavy reform policies continue to declare these challenging schools failures and to offer them a narrow, punitive range of “turnaround” models. We argued that, instead, reform efforts must address the conditions of our students’ lives and create real chances for them to learn and thrive.
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References
Cody, A. (2010a). Teachers’ letters to Obama: The sleeping giant stirs. Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/20/18cody_ep.h29.html.
—. (2010b). Taking into a tin can on a string 3000 miles long. Education Week. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2010/05/talking_into_a_tin_can_on_a_st.html.
Heiler, S. (2013). Facebook’s incredible growth story in six charts. The Motley Fool. Retrieved from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/10/12/facebooks-incredible-growth-story-in-6-charts.aspx.
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© 2014 Alison Heron-Hruby and Melanie Landon-Hays
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Cody, A. (2014). Getting the Attention of the White House: Using Facebook to Promote Teacher Knowledge about School Reform. In: Heron-Hruby, A., Landon-Hays, M. (eds) Digital Networking for School Reform: The Online Grassroots Efforts of Parent and Teacher Activists. Digital Education and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137430748_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137430748_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49215-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43074-8
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