<div dir="ltr"><h2 class="" style="margin:10px 0px 0px;padding:6px;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-family:arial,georgia,times;color:rgb(255,255,255);background:rgb(96,81,64)">Write to the US Senate to Protect World Language Education</h2><div class="" id="post-123209" style="margin:0px;padding:1px 15px 6px 1px;line-height:14pt;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:arial,verdana,tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><div class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><div class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><a class="" title="Facebook" href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 2px;color:rgb(114,55,16);text-decoration:none;border:none;float:left;width:auto"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;display:block;width:16px;height:16px;line-height:16px;overflow:hidden;float:left"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:1px!important;height:1px!important;overflow:hidden!important">Share on facebook</span></span></a><a class="" title="Tweet" href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 2px;color:rgb(114,55,16);text-decoration:none;border:none;float:left;width:auto"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;display:block;width:16px;height:16px;line-height:16px;overflow:hidden;float:left"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:1px!important;height:1px!important;overflow:hidden!important">Share on twitter</span></span></a><a class="" target="_blank" title="Email" href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 2px;color:rgb(114,55,16);text-decoration:none;border:none;float:left;width:auto"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;display:block;width:16px;height:16px;line-height:16px;overflow:hidden;float:left"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:1px!important;height:1px!important;overflow:hidden!important">Share on email</span></span></a><a class="" target="_blank" title="Pinterest" href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 2px;color:rgb(114,55,16);text-decoration:none;border:none;float:left;width:auto"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;display:block;width:16px;height:16px;line-height:16px;overflow:hidden;float:left"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:1px!important;height:1px!important;overflow:hidden!important">Share on pinterest_share</span></span></a><a class="" href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 2px;color:rgb(114,55,16);text-decoration:none;border:none;float:left;width:auto"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;display:block;width:16px;height:16px;line-height:16px;overflow:hidden;float:left"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:1px!important;height:1px!important;overflow:hidden!important">More Sharing Services</span></span></a><a class="" href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209#" style="padding:0px 0px 0px 4px;color:rgb(0,0,0);border:0px;font-weight:bold;display:inline-block;outline:none;text-align:center;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;height:16px;float:left;text-decoration:none!important;width:32px!important"></a><a class="" target="_blank" title="View more services" href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209#" style="margin:0px 0px 3px;padding:0px 0px 4px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none;border:0px;display:block;width:34px;height:16px;line-height:16px;text-align:center;font-weight:bold;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif!important;background:none">3</a><div class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;clear:both"></div></div><p style="margin:12px 0px;padding:0px"><a href="http://languagemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/460493825-e1425668510525.jpg" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(114,55,16);text-decoration:none;border:none"><img class="" src="http://languagemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/460493825-e1425668510525-150x150.jpg" alt="460493825" width="150" height="150" style="margin: 0px; padding: 6px; border: none; float: left;"></a>The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the United States Senate has released a draft of the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which drops the Foreign Language Assistance Act entirely and does not contain any provisions for world languages. The Senate Committee is currently accepting public comment at the email address <a href="mailto:FixingNCLB@help.senate.gov">FixingNCLB@help.senate.gov</a>.</p><p style="margin:12px 0px;padding:0px">The Foreign Language Assistance Act was initiated in 2001 as a part of No Child Left Behind and provides grants to state or local education agencies to fund half the yearly costs of establishing or expanding foreign language programs in elementary and secondary schools. Only about 25% of elementary schools and 58% of middle schools have foreign language programs. As the most critical ages in language learning are between 1 and 7 years old, support for elementary world language programs is important to incentivize.</p><p style="margin:12px 0px;padding:0px"><span class="" style="margin:0px;padding:0px">Mary Kusler, the director of government relations for the National Education Association, said, “We can strongly say that this [draft] is a starting point from which we can all begin discussions. We need to ensure there are the appropriate safeguards by the federal government to ensure all students are receiving a 21st century education regardless of their zip code.  But we are pleased to see measures that increase the flexibility of educators and their districts to meet the needs of their individual students, especially those with the greatest needs.​” To bring language learning into the conversation send an email insisting on high-quality world language programs to <a href="mailto:FixingNCLB@help.senate.gov">FixingNCLB@help.senate.gov</a>. </span></p><p style="margin:12px 0px;padding:0px">For a comprehensive email template, click <a href="http://www.languagepolicy.org/uncategorized/esea-call-for-comments-email-template/" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(114,55,16);text-decoration:none;border:none">here</a>.</p></div></div><div><a href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209">http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=123209</a><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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