How can we achieve excellence and equality in education for everyone? That is the critical question that faces us all at the beginning of the twenty-first century: parents, policy makers, teachers, and other concerned citizens. An answer is all the more urgent, as it is increasingly clear that a good education in K-12 is a determining factor of subsequent social and economic well-being.
Hardly a day passes that education issues do not achieve national attention. Consider these recent events: the refusal of several affluent Vermont towns to pay recently mandated taxes to support education in less fortunate communities; the California vote to abolish bilingual education; the ruling of the Wisconsin Supreme Court allowing vouchers to be used for religious schools; and the national publicity over the results of the Massachusetts teacher tests.
These and other events highlight the underlying frustration with problems in public education and the search for new solutions. Join us in a series of speakers and symposia that will provide information and a forum for a critical examination of the issues and proposed solutions.
