UETF

Public Forums

Coming Together to Build Better Schools: Urban Education for the 21st Century
October 4, 2008, Central High School, Providence

The Rhode Island Young Professionals, in an initiative to promote civic engagement in the Rhode Island community, invited residents and education stakeholders to help inform Governor Donald Carcieri’s Urban Education Task Force about the best solutions for the state’s urban public schools.

Attendance: approx. 150

Constituency:
Broad range of parents and families; community members, leaders, and activists; and civic leaders from Rhode Island’s five core urban school districts (Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, and Newport)

Speakers:

Warren Simmons

Warren Simmons directs the work of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Before joining the Institute in 1998, he was executive director of the Philadelphia Education Fund, where he supported districtwide efforts to enact standards-based reform. He received a B.A. in psychology from Macalester College and a PhD in psychology from Cornell University. He serves on the boards of several national and local education organizations including the Public Education Network, the National Center on Education and the Economy, and the Rhode Island Children’s Crusade.

> Power Point Presentation [PDF: 19 pages]

Charles Payne

Charles M. Payne is the Frank P. Hixon Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. His interests include urban education and school reform, social inequality, social change, and modern African American history. He is an award-winning author whose most recent books are So Much Reform, So Little Change (Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2008) and the anthology Teach Freedom: The African American Tradition of Education For Liberation (Teachers College Press, 2008). He has been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships to support his work.

> Summary of Remarks [PDF: 1 page]

Panel:
Representatives of parents, youth, teachers, administrators, and community activists from Rhode Island’s five core urban school districts (Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, and Newport)

Ana Soares, Deputy Director, Channel One, Central Falls

Frederick W. Silva, Principal, Tolman High School, Pawtucket

Tony Cosentino, History Teacher and Debate Coach, Woonsocket High School

Johanna German, Student, Classical High School and Young Voices, Providence

Jim Asbel, Parent, Newport Public Schools

Click on thumbnail for full size photo.