(NAME-MCE) Call to Action at AERA 2007--NCATE, Social Justice and Queer Lives

[Carli Kyles]

fyi if attending AERA-

---------- Forwarded message ----------

To: AERA_SIG_TEACHER_INDUCTION-ANNOUNCE at LISTSERV.AERA.NET
Subject: FW: Call to Action at AERA 2007--NCATE, Social Justice and Queer Lives

-----Original Message-----
From: Therese Quinn [mailto:tquinn at artic.edu]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2007 6:23 PM

Dear SIG colleagues, please forward this Call to Action to your members and
faculties:

CALL TO ACTION
RED CAMPAIGN FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
AND QUEER LIVES

NCATE's recent removal of sexual orientation and social justice from its
"professional standards" and AERA's refusal to speak against those removals
(see Eva Baker's column in the new Educational Researcher) has highlighted
the
importance of being visible and vocal advocates for social justice and LGBTQ
issues at the upcoming AERA.

We propose the RED Campaign! Wear RED for love, anger, passion, blood,
heart,
and fire. Wear red at AERA to remind the organization to live up to its
mission
to serve the public good.

Wear RED T-shirts, pants, lipstick, jackets, hats, wigs, ballgowns, masks,
arm-bands, wings, socks, and mustaches throughout the conference.

Plan to attend these events (in RED):

Monday April, 9
7:00pm to 8:00pm, Social Justice in Education Award and Lecture
Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Room: Chicago Ballroom, Section X, Level 4

Wednesday April, 11
4:05pm to 6:05pm, AERA Awards Presentation and Presidential Address
Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Room:  Sheraton Ballroom, Section V, Level
4

CONTEXT
In September 2006 over three hundred educators from across the U.S. and
Canada
sent a letter to the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher
Education (NCATE), requesting that sexual orientation and social justice be
kept and strengthened, and gender identity be added, to NCATE's
accreditation
standards.

While NCATE is a private organization, it directly shapes public policy.
Since
the 1990s, NCATE has replaced the accreditation functions that used to be
the
province of state departments of education. Quite bluntly, NCATE functions
as a
sub-contractor for state departments of education. Furthermore, NCATE has a
governance structure with representation from member organizations,
including
the American Library Association (ALA), American Educational Research
Association, National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE), and more. Many
of
these organizations, including the ALA and NCTE, include progressive
statements
about gays and lesbians. We requested that these organizations take a stand
on
the issues and contribute feedback to NCATE on their proposed changes.

The letter was forwarded to the Social Justice Director, and members of the
Social Justice Action Committee, with no response or acknowledgment of the
feedback on the proposed changes from NCATE or from the Executive Council of
the Social Justice Action Committee of AERA (beyond an e-mail informing us
that
the committee was "aware" of the issue). In other words, this letter that
was
signed by over 300 teacher education and administrator preparation
colleagues
was sent to NCATE and forwarded to AERA with a request for action.
Unfortunately, it engendered no substantive response.

In the January/February 2007 issue of the Educational Researcher,  "Position
Taking and Policymaking Processes Guidelines" outlined the process by which
AERA would take a stand on a social justice issue.  From the column by the
President of AERA and the article on guidelines and position taking, one can
infer that AERA failed to offer feedback to NCATE regarding sexual
orientation
and gender identity because these issues lacked "compelling significance,"
"legitimacy," and "adequate research." Furthermore, while social justice
advocacy is part of the mission of the AERA, it is "inappropriate, except in
the rarest of circumstances, for AERA to comment on the procedures of
processes
of any other non-profit or private-sector organization." These statements
prompt
questions:

What constitutes an issue of compelling significance? What is the standard?
If
the Executive Council is the determining body, their votes on issues should
be
made public. Where are the votes on these issues disseminated to the
membership?

What constitutes "adequate research" or as described in the guidelines, a
"sufficiency of research evidence"? We do not understand why the research of
many current and former AERA members (Blackburn, Blount, de Castell, Horn,
Khyatt, Kumashiro, Lugg, Macgillivray, Rofes, Sears, and more), is not
"adequate" to illustrate that LGBTQ students, teachers and faculty  "merit"
inclusion in the category of "diversity." If the hostile schools, physical
and
emotional danger, and poorly prepared teachers and administrators
experienced
by LGBT students and documented in this research fail to offer a
"compelling"
and "powerful moral reason" for AERA to offer feedback to NCATE to retain
and
strengthen sexual orientation and include gender identity in the
professional
standards, what would?

Additionally, what merits "compelling significance?" The NJ Supreme Court
has
just ruled unanimously that public school districts are financially liable
for
maintaining pervasively anti-LGBT school climates. The evidence is
overwhelming
that sexual orientation and gender identity must be addressed in teacher
education and administrator preparation programs to ensure public school
children are not routinely beaten for who they are or how they are
perceived.
Failure by public school teachers and administrators to address LGBT issues
now
can result in costly civil penalties.

Since NCATE solicited open feedback on its proposed changes to its
"standards,"
how is an educational research association's feedback  "inappropriate" when
it
"comments on the procedures and processes" of a "private-sector
organization?"
In particular, how could it be "inappropriate" to comment on the decisions
of a
quasi-public organization that shapes the work-life of the majority of its
members and all children attending public schools?

If AERA is only able to act when issues are "monumental" and  "sufficiently
compelling," on issues of "compelling significance," when issues are
"compelling and fundamental," and when "sufficiently compelling"- we are
compelled to observe that this is not social justice or even advocacy. One
could infer from these statements that AERA is taking a "majoritarian"
position-that AERA will only act when the majority of members are concerned.
This is a position that simply flies in the face of social justice.

Contacts: Therese Quinn, tquinn at saic.edu and Erica Meiners,
e-meiners at neiu.edu




-- 
Therese Quinn, Assistant Professor
Director, BFA with Emphasis in Art Education Program
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
37 S. Wabash Avenue, Rm. 713R
Chicago IL 60603
(312) 629-9186 PH, (312) 899-1477 FX
tquinn at saic.edu
http://therese-othereye.blogspot.com/

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