Focus on U.S. Education Policy and No Child Left Behind:
IRA Programs and Resources

The No Child Left Behind Act is the centerpiece of U.S. federal education policy. Many of NCLB’s provisions are controversial, and IRA encourages open professional dialogue on the issues it raises.

NEW! In an effort to encourage this kind of productive dialogue, IRA has recently issued a document entitled A Call to Action and a Framework for Change: IRA’s Position on NCLB Reform which is available for free download on this site.

Below is a list of IRA tools to help educators, parents, and policymakers understand and respond effectively to U.S. federal education law and policy. We also provide a summary of external resources.

Position statements

Browse the complete library of IRA position statements, or go directly to the following, which have particular relevance to U.S. policy:

Making a Difference Means Making It Different: Honoring Children’s Rights to Excellent Reading Instruction

What Is Evidence-Based Reading Instruction?

Beginning Reading Instruction

In addition, in October 2004, IRA joined 26 other organizations in issuing a joint statement on No Child Left Behind.

Publications

Books, book chapters, and articles

Online resources

News stories on policy, at Reading Today Daily

Report: “No Child Left Behind: A Survey of Its Impact on IRA Members”

NCLB reform: An annotated bibliography (PDF document to download)

Response to Intervention Resource Library

Summary of the report of the National Reading Panel

Meetings and events

The Governmental Relations Workshop, held each year in Washington, D.C., offers IRA’s U.S. members an opportunity to learn about legislative initiatives, their impact, and effective response and advocacy.

IRA’s annual convention always includes numerous sessions on reading and education policy. The following sessions appeared on the program for the 2007 convention.

Symposium: “Reading Success in the Age of No Child Left Behind,” Rosalie Fink et al., presenters

Research Session: “Findings from Reading First Initiatives in Two States,” Rita Bean, Janice Dole et al., presenters

Session: “The Reading First Teacher Education Network: Collaborate Efforts to Implement SBRR Within Teacher Education Programs,” Carmelita Williams et al., presenters

Featured Speaker: “Systematic, Differentiated, Small-Group, AND School-Wide: Lessons from Reading First,” Sharon Walpole, presenter

Other IRA meetings, including state/provincial and regional conferences, routinely include sessions on U.S. state and federal education policy and related issues.

Community

The Legislative Action Team is a grassroots network of IRA members across the country who volunteer assistance in the advocacy of legislation that promotes quality reading instruction.

The Association’s Government Relations Committee is charged with conducting numerous activities related to advocacy around U.S. legislation at the local, state, and federal levels.

Many state and local councils are involved in grassroots advocacy efforts.

For more information about IRA’s advocacy efforts, particularly as they relate to No Child Left Behind, contact our Washington office at irawash@reading.org.