What is an Educational Advocate?

Sometimes educators hear the words ‘educational advocate’ and immediately go on the defense. My goal is to shift that thinking. What is an educational advocate and why do we need them? I found this online….. “An educational advocate is someone with extensive knowledge about special education programs, 504 Plans, IEPs, and academic support that students can receive. This person educates parents, children and teens about the resources available to them and how to acquire each resource, as needed. Think of an educational advocate as a coach and a cheerleading squad, all in one. They can show you the steps, complete certain tasks on your behalf, and build your confidence through each milestone.” Not so scary now, right? I personally like the reference to the cheerleading squad. I also like to think of educational advocates as translators. There is a specific language and list of terms that exist in the field of education and educational advocates have the knowledge to be able to break this down for parents, translate, to make all of the fancy big words make sense when planning for their child. Just like when we talk to doctors, specialists, or financial planners, wouldn’t it be nice to truly understand all of the lingo they are referring to? If you get a good doctor they will explain what is going on so that us non-doctors can easily understand what is going on in our bodies…..but some simply use the official medical terms and I leave feeling like….what did he just say? Same for schools….words like least restrictive environment, 504 plan, individual educational plan (IEP), progress monitoring, curriculum based measures (CBMs), tiered interventions, response to intervention, differentiation, inclusion, explicit instruction, multi sensory approach, executive functioning and accommodations might sound intimidating to families when they are hearing these terms for the first time. Educators went to school for education and are supposed to be familiar with these terms. Parents (who are not educators) might feel like this is a completely foreign language. Enter the educational advocate…..we can translate what this all means and be a cheerleader for the student to receive exactly what he/she needs in order to be the best version of themselves. Let’s be honest, we all want what is best for kids. So let’s shift our thinking to ‘educational advocates are one more cheerleader who will sit around the table for Johnny as an objective person to help the team plan for him to be able to reach all of his educational goals.’ I was a teacher for 20 years, I get it. I worked as a special educator and a regular educator. I’ve sat at the table as the teacher explaining the IEP to parents and as a parent listening to her son’s needs being explained to her. These conversations can be difficult to digest. There is a large emotional component when we talk about our kids. Like I said, we want what is best for them, right? So let’s welcome the advocates as one more person who wants to see Johnny succeed! Advocates are not scary or there to make the school’s life difficult. We want to have open, honest communication with the team to better understand the student and plan for his/her success. We are there to translate for the parents in a calm and organized way. We want to work with schools to discuss all the options available. I have the utmost respect for teachers and administrators. They are amazing human beings. I am proud to have called myself a teacher for 20 years and am ecstatic to continue to be in the field of education as an advocate at Levy Advocacy. So the next time you hear the phrase educational advocate, think YAY!….another cheerleader for Johnny!

xo,

Stacey, the not-so-scary educational advocate