August 16, 2023
The AFT's yearlong campaign, Real Solutions for Kids and Communities, addresses learning loss, loneliness and literacy through transformative strategies that can be sustained, integrated and scaled to help children recover and thrive.
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The AFT has launched a yearlong campaign, Real Solutions for Kids and Communities, that rejects the toxic attacks against public education in favor of working to strengthen public schools, making real solutions for kids a national priority.
We are addressing learning loss, loneliness and literacy through transformative strategies that can be sustained, integrated and scaled to help children recover and thrive:
Create joyful and confident readers by partnering with Reading Universe, First Book, WETA and the Barksdale Institute to help teachers access the best evidence-based reading instructional practices and by continuing to give books away. So while others ban books, we will give away 2.5 million books by July 2024. Learn More.
Expand community schools, which wrap services around schools and make them hubs for kids and families, tackling mental health challenges, hunger, language barriers, healthcare and career supports for families. Learn More.
Provide all children the opportunity to learn by doing. Experiential learning, including career and technical education, engages them in deeper learning, provides them with real-world, real-life skills, and boosts academic achievement. Career and technical education is experiential learning at its best, and it prepares students not only for traditional trades programs but also for in-demand careers in healthcare, information technology, skilled manufacturing and more. Learn More.
Further care for children’s mental health and well-being by demanding that social media companies protect, not prey on, children. The report “Likes vs. Learning: The Real Cost of Social Media for Schools” outlines a series of recommendations tech companies must use to keep kids safe and protect learning environments. Learn More. Join Share My Lesson's Health and Wellness community to support your well-being.
Fight for investments schools need, so they can recruit, retain and respect the educators and school staff who help kids thrive, offer a well-rounded curriculum, and provide safe, welcoming and well-maintained school buildings. Learn More.
These strategies will strengthen and improve public education. Together, they are transformative for kids, regardless of their ZIP code.
As extremists try to divide Americans, we know that public schools unite us. The parents of 90 percent of American children send their kids to public schools. And national polls show that parents overwhelmingly support and trust teachers, and want schools strengthened, not politicized or privatized.
Extremists don’t offer a single idea that will improve public schools, because they don’t want to strengthen public education; they want to end it—by inserting political divisions, cutting resources, and diverting funding from already underfunded public schools through vouchers, despite evidence that vouchers do not improve achievement.
Public schools are the vehicle that anchors our democracy and creates opportunity for our children. The Real Solutions for Kids and Communities campaign is about strengthening those opportunities and helping kids prepare for college, career and life.
Join us in our mission to have a positive impact on children’s lives. Discover various ways to get involved, share and learn from success stories about effective programs in communities nationwide, and find more information on great things happening in public schools.
Article | Professional Development, Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel, Specialized Instructional Support Personnel
In this collection, you'll find resources that address learning loss, loneliness and literacy through transformative strategies that can be sustained, integrated and scaled to help children recover and thrive.
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RANDI WEINGARTEN is president of the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, which represents teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; higher education faculty and staff; nurses and other healthcare professionals; local, state and federal government employees; and early childhood educators. The AFT champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for students, their families and communities. The AFT and its members advance these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through members’ work.
