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Recently thousands of parents, teachers and education activists staged a march protesting against the reform policies of the Obama administration. This march was held in Washington. Just two days before the march, some of the leaders were invited for a discussion by the US officials to the White House.

The aim of this march, according to the leaders, is to make the administration aware of the fact that principals, teachers, parents and others are extremely fed up of the reform policies. According to them schools are turned into testing factories by these reforms. Based on test scores, teachers are being evaluated in an unfair manner.

An artistic display was created in front of the Education Department building by three large protestor groups. They were invited into the building to meet Arne Duncan, the Education Secretary. To show in a symbolic manner that children are being boxed in, they handed the secretary a gift of baby in a box. This expressed their concern with regard to this and gave a strong message that something has to be done about it.

According to Justin Hamilton, the spokesman for Education Department, it was a useful discussion. This march was named Save our Schools. Leaders of the march said that many of them were invited to the White House a day before the scheduled date of the march. At the American University, a conference of activists was also held. This two day conference discussed many relevant issues.

Till now, many letters were written about the school reform policies that are test driven and standardized by the March leaders. Only after they planned the march did the administration actually wake up and agreed to meet with them and discuss the issue.

We remember that last year a similar effort was initiated by a civil rights group coalition. The administration blunted their criticism. An education reform framework was released by this group criticizing the policies of the administration.

Just before the release of this framework, certain coalition group leaders were called for a meeting by the administration officials. After the meeting, some of the leaders withdrew their criticism. Is this a repeat performance? Are the officials planning to bulldoze leaders yet again this time?

If it is a legitimate effort by the administration to actually listen to what teachers and others have to say, then there is some hope. If not, we are back to the starting point with no value for the march or the protest. So, what is the administration planning? Are we going to find a solution to this and if so, when? Before it is too late and before we lose all our teachers?

Educators across the country are frequently called by Duncan for conversations. South Side High School in New York is one of the high achieving schools. Carol Corbett Burris, its principal was contacted over the phone earlier this month. Burris was one of the participants at the march that may or may not make a strong impact. We can only hope for the best.