Thread by @didikins4life

This is the #DemPartyPlatform for 2020. This part is called: Supporting High-Quality K-12 Schools Across America
Only one party understands that a quality education is a critical public good-NOT a commodity. A quality education is the right of every child. 1/16

#Democrats believe in providing equal educational opportunities for students with disabilities. We will fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and fully implement its requirements for a free appropriate public education and least restrictive environment. 2/16

#Democrats will support aggressive enforcement of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act & Americans with Disabilities Act, including the integration mandate of the Olmstead decision & provide school districts with additional resources to better serve students w/disabilities. 3/16

#Democrats will ban seclusion and prevent and decrease use of physical restraint, in partnership with teachers, school administrators, and the disability rights movement. 4/16 #DemPartyPlatform

#Democrats also support aggressive enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act in schools and other settings.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made long-standing educational disparities evident to all Americans. 5/16 #DemPartyPlatform #ADA #COVID

#Democrats will prioritize equitable education & access for students w/disabilities,English language learners,low-income students,students of color,and urban & rural students,those who are homeless, immigrants or refugees, or in the foster care or juvenile justice systems. 6/16

Remote instruction must be individualized to the greatest possible extent and reasonable modifications should be provided for students with disabilities even during a pandemic. 7/16 #DemPartyPlatform #ADA

The evidence from nearly two decades of education reforms that hinge on standardized test scores shows clearly that high-stakes testing has not led to enough improvement in outcomes for students or for schools, 8/16 #DemPartyPlatform #NotJustATestScore #EduPolicy

High-Stakes testing can lead to discrimination against students, particularly students with disabilities, students of color, low-income students, and English language learners. 9/16 #DemPartyPlatform #NotJustATestScore

#Democrats will work to end the use of such high-stakes tests and encourage states to develop reliable, continuous, evidence-based approaches to student assessment that rely on multiple and holistic measures that better represent student achievement. 10/16 #DemPartyPlatform

Assessments will provide families with clear, accessible, consistent information about how well schools are serving individual students and groups of students, while better representing student achievement. 11/16 #DemPartyPlatform #NotJustATestScore #AlternativeAssessment

Students, parents, and educators will be supported by data collection and analysis disaggregated by race, gender,disability status, and other important variables, to identify and address disparities in educational equity, access, and outcomes.12/16 #DemPartyPlatform #EduPolicy

#Educators have always been heroes. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the value that educators provide to children, parents, and the economy obvious as never before to tens of millions of Americans. 13/16 #DemPartyPlatform #EducatorsAreHeroes

Public school educators should have the same rights to organize, join a union, and collectively bargain as private sector workers. 14/16 #DemPartyPlatform #EDUcators #UnionStrong

#Democrats will fight to significantly increase pay and benefits for all educators, in order to help recruit, retain, and reward high-quality teachers and support professionals, and will continue to support measures to help teachers pay for out-of-pocket classroom expenses. 15/16

#Democrats will support programs to help introduce high school students to the teaching profession, enable school support staff to climb the professional ladder within schools, and recruit a diverse educational workforce through partnerships with HBCUs, MSIs, and TCUs. 16/16