2007 Keynote Resources

[Video]
America has made aggressive efforts to improve its schools. For the most part, the standards are higher, assessment of student performance is more sophisticated, and the curriculum richer; yet, the issues of equity, excellence and engagement of students and families have been unmet. Global interdependence and the cultural clashes of the Age of Globalization make this one of the more difficult periods with which America must contend. Are the systems in America ready? Are leaders of the systems looking toward the issues of the future or are they dealing only with the problems of the past? Are the systems needed to assure equity, excellence and engagement broken? Arthur Levine will address these issues for a candid discussion about education.

[Video] [Presentation Slides]
With competing countries such as China and India offering large numbers of highly educated workers willing to work for lower wages, globalization has increased the stakes for education policy-makers at all levels in the United States. Are the federal government, No Child Left Behind, state governments, schools of education, and local school districts capable of sparking the education reforms necessary to position the U.S. economy to prosper in the Age of Globalization? Are the systems capable of providing equity, excellence and engagement for all students? What would such reforms entail? Marc Tucker will lead participants through a provocative discussion of education and the economy to answer these questions and more.

[Video]
Educators in Indiana and across the nation today face the challenge of not only considering where inequities exist in student achievement, but examining the root causes of the achievement gap, and laying out clear goals and benchmarks to narrow this gap. Critical to creating a successful strategy is addressing the issues of racism and exclusion and how they manifest today in our culture and schools. Glenn Singleton will explore the topics of diversity and institutional racism and the importance of honest, courageous conversation among educators about how to help all children, especially children of color, achieve at the highest levels.

[Video] [Presentation Slides]
This presentation will focus on the detrimental effects of disability labeling. Based on vignettes from research in an urban school district, the presentation will use the voices of children, parents and teachers to promote a strength-based rather than a deficit-based approach to providing special services.

[Video]
As Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Suellen K. Reed is Indiana's Chief State School Office, serving as the Chairperson of the State Board of Education and the CEO of the Indiana Department of Education. First elected in 1992, as Indiana's first female State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Reed currently is serving her fourth consecutive four-year term. During her tenure as Superintendent, she has played a fundamental role in shaping major educational reform initiatives for Indiana, includeing Indiana's academic standards, ISTEP+ testing, Public Law 221, and the Indiana Education Roundtable. Dr. Reed also has visited schools in all 92 counties during her first three terms and has visited 35 counties so far in her fourth term. Dr. Reed has served in virually every position in which one can serve in the education field, having been a teacher at elementary, middle and high school levels, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and local superintendent. She has a bachelor's degree from Hanover College and a master's and doctorate from Ball State University