Day on the Square March 19, 2014 Sponsored by: Governmental Relations Committee OACTE

Purpose Get acquainted with legislators—not a “lobby” day Provide information about current initiatives and educational issues as related to higher education Offer a signal to Congressional leaders that educator preparation faculty are a committed constituency Use collective efforts to demonstrate improvements and successes in preparing high-quality educators. Advocate for education legislation that supports our vision for comprehensive, high quality educator preparation

Advance preparation: Learn about your state legislators Who are your Senators? House Representatives? What is their party affiliation? What are their committee assignments? To what issues do they have a special interest in or commitment?

What to expect 1.Introduce yourself, your institution, and OACTE 2.Share information about your institution (for SUED members, provide a copy of the SUED booklet; for OAPCTE, provide information about your institution) 3.Refer to OACTE TALKING POINTS: Ohio Teacher Preparation: Adding Value to Ohio ~  Ensuring our Graduates are Ready to be Successful in the Classroom on Day One  Strengthening Communities  Meeting State and Local Needs

For a Successful Meeting: Do… Say thank you! Respect their time: be on time, prepared and flexible Stay on message: be clear and concise Make it clear that you are asking for support for strong teacher quality provisions in legislation. Include a local story: provide facts, figures and anecdotes Build a relationship with staff: become a resource Leave information behind (OACTE 3/19/14 handout) Follow up: send a thank you letter immediately after the meeting

Don’t … Be late Show disappointment if your meeting turns out to be with a staff person instead of a Member Assume staffers know all about the role of Colleges of Education and how legislation affects you and the students you serve Get off message – it’s easy to “play the name game” or discuss the weather and lose valuable meeting time Use threats Forget to leave information behind Forget to follow up or write a thank you letter

Discussion Questions: What does your Representative or Senator see as the primary problems in education today? What are the emerging issues where we could or should be involved and provide information about for them? How should higher education and P-12 education develop more common ground in educator preparation and in the Resident Educator program Other?

Good luck and enjoy your meetings!