Learning Roundtable - Educating the Children of Poverty

Happening tomorrow, Sept. 12 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Austin Central at 5901 N. IH-35 in Austin.

Angela

Learning Roundtable - Educating the Children of Poverty

The State Board of Education and Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath are hosting a day-long conference called Learning Roundtable - Educating the Children of Poverty Sept. 12 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Austin Central at 5901 N. IH-35 in Austin. The free conference will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:35 p.m. and is open to the public.
During the conference, national and state researchers and educators will explore ways to transform high-poverty schools into high-performing schools. This is a particularly critical issue for Texas where 3.1 million of the 5.3 million public school students come from economically disadvantaged homes. Texas has experienced a rapid rise in this student population in the 21st century.
In the 2001-2002 school year, children living near or below the poverty line represented, for the first time in modern history, a  slight majority of the public school enrollment. That year, economically disadvantaged students accounted for 50.5 percent of the total enrollment, a rapid rise from 35 percent of the student population in the 1987-1988 school year. Today, 59 percent of Texas public school students are economically disadvantaged, which is slightly down from the highest level of 60.3 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.
Research has shown that an impoverished background impacts children and their education in many ways, from arriving at school with a much smaller vocabulary than their more affluent classmates to experiencing food insecurity.  This conference will focus on ways Texas educators can support these students and provide them with the best education possible.
Directions to the hotel: http://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en/hotels/texas/embassy-suites-by-hilton-austin-central-AUSCLES/maps-directions/index.html

 Agenda

 8 a.m. - Welcome Address
Donna Bahorich, Chair, Texas State Board of Education
Mike Morath, Texas Commissioner of Education,Texas Education Agency
 8:15 a.m.- Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools
Dr. William Parrett, Director, Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies, Boise State University
Dr. Kathleen Budge, Associate Professor, Executive Educational Leadership Program, Boise State University
9:30 a.m. - Break
9:45 a.m. - Achievement and Opportunity in America: What Can We Do?
Kati Haycock, Chief Executive Officer, The Education Trust
11 a.m. Break
11:10 a.m. -  Learning from Schools that Succeed
Karin Chenoweth, Writer-in-Residence, The Education Trust
12:15 p.m. - Lunch
 A pasta buffet lunch will be available at the hotel for $12 for conference attendees. Purchase a lunch ticket at the registration desk.
1 p.m. 
 Panel 1A: Effective Partnerships and Practices
Robert Carreon, Vice President for Public Affairs in Texas, Teach for America
Chris Fraser, Dean, Relay GSE Texas
Kelvey Oeser, Partner, The New Teacher Project
Dr. John Jenkins, Executive Director of New Site Development, New Leaders
Panel 2A: Best Practices in Leading Diverse Schools
Dr. Lupita Hinojosa, Chief Academic Officer, Spring Independent School District
Sterlin McGruder, Principal, Gus Garcia Young Men's Leadership Academy, Austin Independent School District
Lorimer Arendse, Principal, Grand Prairie High School, Grand Prairie Independent School District
Lynn Musel, Principal, Capistrano Elementary School, Ysleta Independent School District
1:55 p.m. 
Panel 1B: High-Performing Schools Models
Dr. Esperanza Zendejas,Superintendent, Brownsville Independent School District
HD Chambers, Superintendent, Alief Independent School District
Tom Torkelson, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Idea Public Schools
Victor Obaseki, Policy Coordinator, Institute forUrban Policy Research and Analysis
Panel 2B: Potential of Pathways
Dr. Danny King, Superintendent, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District
Dr. Susan Landry, Director and Founder and Professor of Pediatrics, The Children's Learning Institute
Adam Hutchison, Provost, Texas State Technical College in Waco
Dr. Luzelma G. Canalas, Executive Director, RGV FOCUS
2:50 p.m.
 Panel 1C: Data Driven Decisions for Leadership
Susan Dawson, President and Executive Director, E3 Alliance
Todd Williams, Executive Director, Commit! Partnership
Dr. Pauline Dow, Chief Instructional Officer, North East Independent School District
Mike Feinberg, Co-founder, KIPP
Panel 2C: How to Successfully Build School/District/Community Teams and Support Diverse Communities
Adeeb Barqawi, President and Chief Executive Officer, ProUnitas
Marta Plata, Principal, Manuel Jara Elementary School, Fort Worth Independent School District
Alison Reis-Khanna, Executive Director, Texas Partnership for Out of School Time
Dr. David Vroonland, Superintendent, Mesquite Independent School District
3:40 p.m. - Neuroscience Research and Solutions for Building Learning Capacity in the Children of Poverty
  Dr. Martha Burns, Director of Neuroscience Education, Northwestern University
4:30 p.m. - Closing Remarks
Donna Bahorich, Chair, State Board of Education
Brief biographies of all the speakers are posted online.
 The conference is open to the public. No advance registration is required. The full conference will be livestreamed at http://www.adminmonitor.com/tx/tea/.