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Elevating the importance of education in the 2008 election
Campaign targets presidential nominees
Although the war in Iraq and America's struggling economy tend to dominate most presidential nominee discussions, one group hopes to elevate education to the national debate. EDin08, a national awareness campaign, kicked off its Missouri campaign with the hope of increasing voter and presidential nominee discussion about the important issues surrounding education, namely: how do we get the best teachers in classrooms; how can we maximize student learning; and how we can increase student performance? You can be an advocate for education in the 2008 election by raise awareness of the important issues in your community.
EDin08's statewide initiative is partnered with the Missouri State Teachers Association, the Missouri School Boards Association, teachers and citizens throughout the state, the University of Missouri and its College of Education. It is looking for advocates of education — including volunteers from any field or profession — to help raise awareness of the importance of education in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Anyone can get involved in the EDin08 awareness campaign, according to Jim Gwinner, BA ’90, who heads up EDin08 in Missouri.
“We are all affected by education,” he says. “We all want education to be improved. Its not just folks that go off to college that are affected by the K-12 system but we need to improve kids’ college readiness and readiness for the workforce, for vocational programs.”
Gwinner explained that many students who choose technical career paths, which require entrance exams, fail the exams because their K-12 experience did not adequately prepare them for the workforce.
Brady Deaton, chancellor of the University of Missouri, and Carolyn Herrington, dean of the College of Education, are members of the campaign’s leadership team and hope to involve the greater Missouri population in this awareness initiative.
Getting visible in Missouri
“We need help getting the word out,” Gwinner says. “The national campaign has posts in 11 states to build visibility amongst the candidates during the presidential election campaign about the importance of education.”The EDin08 campaign selected Missouri as a target state since it’s a swing state that will garner large amounts of media coverage and visits from the presidential nominees. Senator Obama visited St. Louis earlier this month and both candidates plan to spend more time in Missouri in upcoming months.
Gwinner says the goal is to encourage nominees to discuss how we can have the best teachers in the classroom, how students can have more time for learning, and how we can increase students’ performance. To do this, Gwinner’s team is looking for volunteers to work events and to build awareness of the importance of education in the upcoming presidential campaign throughout Missouri.
Ideally, folks will ask and encourage discussion about education on behalf of Senators Obama and McCain when they come to Missouri.
How to get involved
You can help!- Sign up for more information on the EDin08 website
- Learn more about the group and the statistics on education in Missouri
- Participate at EDin08 events
- Pass out EDin08 materials at your local event or have an EDin08 representative present information at your community event
- Ask political candidates and current politicians about their stance on education: What do you plan to do about K-12 public education; Will you make it a priority?
- Write a letter to the editor of your community paper
In addition to promoting education at community gatherings and special events — such as Columbia’s Twilight Festival or Rolla’s Summerfest — the group plans to host leadership round tables with educators.
The EDin08 campaign is organized by the Strong American Schools project, a nonpartisan campaign supported by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“This year we’re choosing our next president; we must work together to ensure that whoever is elected places education at the top of their agenda,” Gwinner says.
Contact
Jim Gwinner
1-636-225-7595