Political Advocacy Groups

"AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research." (http://www.aauw.org/about/)

"In the emerging landscape of education reform, the Center for Education Reform is the leading voice for structural and sustainable changes that can dramatically improve educational opportunities for decades to come. Our guiding purpose is to improve the accuracy and quality of discourse and decisions about education reform, leading to fundamental policy changes that make a difference long after news and election cycles have ended." (www.edreform.com/about/)

"Education Sector is an independent think tank that challenges conventional thinking in education policy. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to achieving measurable impact in education policy, both by improving existing reform initiatives and be developing new, innovative solutions to our nation's most pressing education problems. (http://www.educationsector.org/who-we-are)

"NABE's mission is to advocate for our nation's Bilingual and English Language Learners and families and to cultivate a multilingual multicultural society by supporting and promoting policy, programs, pedagogy, research, and professional development that yield academic success, value native language, lead to English proficiency, and respect cultural diversity." (http://www.nabe.org/nabemission.html)

"NAEYC's mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources. " (http://www.naeyc.org/about/mission)

"NBPTS is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan and nongovernmental organization. It was formed in 1987 to advance the quality of teaching and learning by developing professional standards for accomplished teaching, creating a voluntary system to certify teachers who meet those standards and integrating certified teachers into educational reform efforts." (http://www.nbpts.org/about_us)

"The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) advances quality education and equal opportunity by promoting fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial evaluations of students, teachers and schools. FairTest also works to end the misuses and flaws of testing practices that impede these goals. We place special emphasis on eliminating the racial, class, gender, and cultural barriers to equal opportunity posed by standardized tests, and preventing their damage to the quality of education." (http://www.fairtest.org/about)