Education Secretary Duncan will address NSBA Conference
04/09 -- Learn first-hand about the Obama administration’s education policies from Secretary Arne Duncan at NSBA’s Annual Conference in San Diego.
Duncan, the keynote speaker at the conference, will address the First General Session on Saturday, April 4, then respond to questions from the audience at a town hall meeting.
The education secretary has an unprecedented opportunity to have a major impact on public education. Duncan has a great deal of control over $100 billion in economic stimulus funding slated for K-12 education. Meanwhile, his views on education reform will take center stage as Congress works to reauthorize the deeply flawed No Child Left Behind Act.
“There have never been these kinds of resources -- nothing even comes close to what’s going to education,” Duncan said in an interview that will be published in the April edition of American School Board Journal. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try and get dramatically better.”
Duncan was chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools for the past seven and a-half years, where he closed or reorganized dozens of underperforming schools.
Rounding out the slate of General Session speakers at the Annual Conference are Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison on Sunday, acclaimed actor and singer Julie Andrews on Monday, and humanitarian Gregg Mortenson on Tuesday. Mortenson developed more than 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan and chronicled his experiences in the best-seller Three Cups of Tea.
Focus on Education Lectures offer a chance to learn from experts on how to be a better leader and get your school board and district on the track to excellence.
Focus lectures will feature the following:
• Michael Geisen, the 2008 National Teacher of the Year, has ignited a passion for learning among his students at Crook County Middle School in Prineville, Ore.
• Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, will join NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant, two state school boards association leaders, and a superintendent in a discussion on “Board-Superintendent Relations: Creating Winning Strategies for the Dream Team.”
• Douglas Reeves, founder of the Leadership and Learning Center, will talk about how policymakers and leaders can navigate complex educational systems among the dual challenges of change and stability.
• Greg Bell will describe what it takes to be a 21st century leader. He believes successful leaders must possess a multitude of talents and skills that have more to do with enabling people than controlling them.
• Meg Wheatley, an influential writer on organizational theory, will offer perspectives about how scientific thinking on chaos, networks, and relationships can be applied to human organizations.
For more details on the conference program, and to register online, visit
www.nsba.org/conference.
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