Building A Dyslexia Parent Group
Course 6 - Make Your Move
“We can’t shy away from conflict… someone asked about a statement that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and others have made that public-school reform is the civil-rights issue of our generation. Well, during the civil-rights movement they didn’t work everything out by sitting down collaboratively and compromising. Conflict was necessary in order to move the agenda forward. There are some fundamental disagreements that exist right now about what kind of progress is possible and what strategies will be the most effective. Right now, what we need to do is fight. We can be respectful about it. But this is the time to stand up and say what you believe, not sweep the issues under the rug so that we can feel good about getting along. There’s nothing more worthwhile than fighting for children...”
“You have to go to war for your child because it’s their one shot to do this. You can’t wait for the school district to figure it out.”
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
How to preserve relationships
The benefits of creating a paper trail
How to collect evidence
The benefits of understanding previous efforts
Different strategies to affect change
Why this effort is so important
The media’s role in ensuring change
How to brace for pushback
An Inflection Point
This is the moment. You’ve gathered all the information and made predictions about which way your district will move. Your prediction will determine your next step. Does your school district embrace the Science of Reading and structured literacy or are they going to obfuscate and fight you? If it is the latter, you will need to engage all who are in power; i.e. principals, superintendent, school board, and let them know that the science exists to teach children with dyslexia how to read, that federal law protects your children, and if given no other choice, you will be forced to proceed with legal action against the district.
You are determined and will not back down when it comes to your children. Now is the time to take a stand to make change for every child in your district.
On our journey we’ve come to realize that although the research on how children with dyslexia learn to read is conclusive and laws have been passed to protect our children, until parents activate, very little changes. Parents are where the rubber meets the road where the battle is being fought. We are the customers of a broken system, and must fight to fix that system for our children.
Your efforts will ‘plant a seed’ in your district, and surrounding districts will benefit as a consequence. As we create this change all over the country, we’ll change the way reading is taught everywhere! We can’t lose another generation!
Featured Guest Speakers:
Emily Hanford, Kareem Weaver, Brenda Louisin, Kerry Agins and Brett Tingley.