Effective Legislative Advocacy: Policy Experts’ Advice for Educators

Abstract

Educators and policy makers often lack the ability to work together to address issues facing schools. For this multiple case study, three educators who advocate regularly at the local, state, and national levels were asked by the researcher to offer advice for influencing legislative change. The findings suggest that educators interested in advocacy should use personal strengths and interests to advocate, focus on one issue and one level of government, and build professional relationships with policy makers and constituents.

Key words:

• educational policy
• teacher leadership.

Acknowledgment

The author thanks Kathleen Magor for her feedback on this article.