APS Superintendent to Participate in Education Forum

Invitation-Only Event Features Superintendents from Across the Country

March 16, 2011

Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Winston Brooks will join superintendents from America’s largest urban school districts along with influential business leaders, members of the national media and other top education leaders during an invite-only forum on improving public education on Friday, March 18, at USA Today headquarters in McLean, Va.

“Unite to Make a Difference” is a day-long conference to address the successes and challenges that face America’s urban schools. Brooks will not only attend the forum, but will take part in a panel discussion on “What are public education’s greatest challenges and how do we address these key issues?” Other panel members include superintendents from Boston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Philadelphia and San Francisco and Virginia’s secretary of education.

The event is being sponsored by USA Today and the Council of the Great City Schools, a national organization representing the needs of urban public schools. The organization also provides a network for school districts sharing common problems to exchange information, and to collectively address new challenges as they emerge in order to deliver the best possible education for urban youth.

“Albuquerque Public Schools, like urban districts across the country, is under tremendous pressure to improve, and forums like this one give us an opportunity to explore with leading urban educators the challenges and the promises for our nation’s schools,” said Brooks. “The students of APS benefit from our participation in these types of forums because they are, after all, the reason we’re working to make public education better.”

Friday’s event kicks off with a “State of Urban Education” address by Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools. Casserly is expected to recognize APS during his address for the district’s academic progress.

“Urban public education is under tremendous pressure to improve. We are being challenged in the court of public opinion and by history to improve student achievement to levels that America has never asked of its schools,” said Casserly.

Other speakers at the forum include Siegfried Behrens, general manager of U.S. Education – Microsoft; Alma J. Powell, chair of America’s Promise Alliance; and Stephen Jordan, senior vice president and executive director of the Business Civic Leadership Center for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Other panel discussions include how the business community can support the changing student population and another on how education and business work together to meet goals and how media can help.

To view a live webcast of the event, participate in the dialogue on key questions being addressed by leading superintendents or to learn more about USA Today’s education initiatives and partners, visit www.usatodayeducate.com/unite. To join in the conversation, please follow #uniteforum on Twitter.

This weekend, following the education forum, Brooks will attend the Council of the Great City Schools annual legislative/policy meeting. Topics of discussion include:

• Title I;
• Achievement and professional development,
• Governance, leadership, management, and school finance;
• English Language Learners and bilingual education;
• School improvement grants;
• The newly enacted Child Nutrition Act legislation;
• Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind;
• Federal funding for public education; and
• School improvement grants.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is scheduled to address the group on Sunday.

Brooks also will meet with the New Mexico congressional delegation staff.