TO:Affiliate Conference Attendees

FROM:Jane Clarenbach, Director of Public Education

Greetings! We look forward to having you attend the NAGC State Affiliate Advocacy Education Conference. The conference begins on Saturday, March 21 at 4:00 pm(or 2:30 if you are attending the federal advocacy primer session (see page 3)) and finishes up on Tuesday, March 24 with breakfast in the U.S. Capitol complex, followed by visits to House and Senate offices in support of gifted education legislative proposals and funding. Below are some points to keep in mind as you make appointments in Congressional offices.

MAKING APPOINTMENTS

We will begin Tuesdaywith coffee in the U.S. Capitol building, which means that you could schedule your first appointments of the day in either the House or Senate beginning no earlier than 9:15. NOTE that we ask that you try not to schedule appointments on Monday (March 23) so as not to miss affiliate conference programming.

(1) Which Offices?

As state leaders, you should plan to visit (or drop packets with) as many Representatives from your state as possible and both of your Senators, especially if they serve on key committees.

YOU SHOULD CALL OFFICES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO REQUEST A MEETING ON MARCH 24between 9:15 am and 3:00 (or whenever you need to leave for the airport). In most cases, it will take a couple of phone calls to secure an appointment, and may require a fax request. Here are a few suggestions as to how to approach these calls:

Prioritizing Visits

In some cases, it’s not possible to make appointments on Tuesday with your entire Congressional delegation. THAT’S OK! So, there are a few ways to prioritize visits:

Visit members who serve on the education committees – the committees that handle the issues we’re working on.
Visit new Members of Congress (elected in 2014)from your state. Your visits may be the first time the new Member has heard of concerns about gifted learners. (note: new members are italicized on the Congressional directory)
See members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Our emphasis on high-potential students from low-income schools and from culturally and linguistically diverse populations could dovetail nicely with the education goals for Caucus Members.

If you cannot see the entire delegation, you can plan to drop off packets for the education staff in the offices where you do not have appointments and follow up once you get home. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you’re struggling to prioritize your time and Congressional representatives from your state.

The Congressional Directory and Education Committee lists are posted on the federal legislative update page of the NAGC website. All information is also available at and

(2) Who to Call?

If you don’t already know staff in an office, ask for the appointments secretary.

When calling your own Representative, or your Senators, identify yourself as a constituent AND as a representative of a statewide organization and ask for 15 minutes of your Member of Congress’s time to discuss gifted and talented educationinitiatives. Let the appointments secretary know that you are in town to speak with the state’s Congressional delegation about the educational needs of gifted and talented children. When calling Representatives in your state other than your own Representative, tell the office that you are a statewide leader and that your organization has members in their district.

If the Senator or Representative is not available for a meeting, ask to be transferred to the staff person who handles education issues – then ask that staff member for a 20-minute appointment. The education staff person is very valuable in the legislative process; we urge you to get to know the staff persons by name, and to stay in contact after you return home.

NOTE that it may take several calls to confirm an appointment in a single office. Be persistent, especially with the offices in which you are a constituent. Keep open the possibility that you will stop by offices where you don’t have confirmed meetings to see if the education staff person is available for a quick visit and if not, to drop off materials and a note.

See item #5 below for points to include in your meeting request so that offices know what you will be discussing.

(3) Organizing Your Visits

We will begin the day in the Capitol Building, which means you will need to walk to House or Senate buildings and get through security before your first meeting. I suggest you not plan to be at an office before 9:15 or 9:30. As you arrange your day, keep in mind that it takes about 15 minutes to walk across Capitol Hill (from House to Senate & vice versa), plus additional time to go through security and locate offices, especially in the Rayburn building (it’s a 10-minute walk from the Cannon House Bldg to the Senate; 15 from the other House buildings).

On the House side, it makes sense to organize your appointment time requests based on office location. (There are 3 office buildings that are all connected underground so you only have to go through security one time.) It’s far preferable to stay in one building and handle several appointments than running between them. I suggest that you leave 15-30 minutes between House appointments to give you time to move between the buildings and to allow for a meeting to start/end a little late. The Senate also has three buildings, all connected underground. As you make appointments, leave some leeway in case a Senator or staff member is running late. For offices in the same building, you might schedule appointments 30 minutes apart.

Once you have appointments, make a grid of each Senator/Representative’s name, office location, phone number, and staff person (if applicable) and plan to bring the listing with you. In the past some guards have questioned attendees carrying multiple packets of briefing materials. Showing them that you have appointments takes care of any concerns.

NOTEthat I would appreciate receiving a copy of your appointments before you come to DC. NAGC is also coordinating Hill visits in some of the key offices and we want to be sure that we do that in conjunction with you.

(4) Materials for Your Appointments

NAGC will provide a packet of general information on gifted education and on our legislative issues for each office you visit. However, you should plan to bring materials with you to add to each packet to better acquaint the offices with the status of gifted education in your state:

Plan to bring some kind of fact sheet describing the status of gifted education in your state (e.g., state funding levels, #s of GT students, a point or two about the status of teacher training in your state, etc. -- I’d be happy to work with you beforehand on your “fact” sheets). We’ll have information on excellence gaps in your state, but if you’re not familiar with the issue, please take a look at Jonathan Plucker’s website at I think you’ll agree that this is a powerful argument.

It would also help if you were comfortable talking about at least one school district’s program in every office in which you have an appointment – so that the Member of Congress knows what the situation is in his/her area. In addition to being able to give examples of quality GT programs in your state, it would be helpful to have an example or two of programs that target and serve low-income students. It’s important for legislators to understand the challenges and successes (if any) in serving this population.

You should also bring your organization’s membership brochure and a newsletter (or something similar) for each office.

The more personalizing you do the better, especially for Members on the education committees. In the past, some of you have brought letters from students (explaining how much they get out of their gifted education program, or describing how frustrated they are in the regular classroom). There might also be a local news article about a gifted ed program, or a student who won a national competition that would be interesting to the student’s Representative and Senators. If you have a statewide math-science high school, there may be news about the students’ accomplishments there that would be of keen interest.

Plan to bring business cards if you have them. Bring blank association notepaper in case you have to leave handwritten messages (Leaving a packet & note, and then following up by telephone is NEARLY as good as sitting together for a few minutes!). What is important is that there is information in each packet that lets the Hill staff know that there is a state group and a contact name that they can reach later if they have questions.

Plan to wear comfortable shoes – it’s a lot of walking! You might also bring a camera(other than your cell phone) so that you can take a photo of yourself with your Representatives/Senators for your association newsletter or website. A briefcase or other tote will come in handy to carry packets of information. Umbrellas might also come in handy (But we hope they won’t be needed!).

(5) Legislative Messages

The materials we’ll provide at the conference will focus on the TALENT Act and and the need to include gifted and talented and high-ability students in federal education policy. (see TALENT Act on the NAGC website) Here’s how I expect we’ll frame a few of the talking points. Please don’t worry about memorizing them; we’ll cover them during the conference.

Close the achievement gap for advanced learners from low-income and minority backgrounds.
Hold schools accountable for the performance of ALL students, including those achieving at above grade level.
Federal funding for professional development should include professional development and training to enable all teachers to meet the needs of gifted & talented students and those who could become high achievers with the right supports.
Include support for research and innovations in teaching gifted students in federal education policy
Continue funding the Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act in fiscal year 2016

I don’t want to cause any additional stress for those of you who are new to advocacy, but as you look over the messages, can you think of data/stories that you might be able to gather in support of any of them? For example,

Are there Title I districts in your state that focus on disadvantaged gifted learners?
Do you know how professional development funds are spent in your district? Can you approximate the percentage of teachers in your district/state that have received GT professional development?
Do you have any examples of where an underachieving student was moved to a gifted program because of teacher awareness of his/her potential and the student began to excel?
Does your state separate data on state report cards related to advanced or GT students? (related to accountability)
If any of the new Javits grants are operating in your state, can you provide an overview so you can show how federal $$ is being used in your state?

I think you get the idea. Your meetings will be that much more effective if you can talk about some of these issues from your own state and school district perspectives. Your “factoids” and stories help Members of Congress and staff understand what is going on, good and bad, for gifted students.

OTHER

Introduction to Federal Legislative Advocacy

For those new to federal legislative advocacy (we mean “new” in that you haven’t done this kind of advocacy before), there will be a pre-conference “advocacy 101” session on Saturday at 2:30 pmwhere we’ll focus on the basics and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions. There is a check box on the registration form, or you can send me an email () to say you’re planning to participate.

If you have questions about any of this, please don’t hesitate to call or email me or Karen Yoho at 202.785.4268 or ;