Saturday, October 01, 2011

Live Interview Tuesday October 4th - A Children's Education Bill of Rights

Join me Tuesday, October 4th, for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com webinar with Peter W. Cookson, Jr., on his book Sacred Trust: A Children's Education Bill of Rights. Peter will discuss his "proposed education bill of rights for American students, including ideas on how to restructure the United States Department of Education for greater equality and improved academic achievement for all learners."

Date: Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Recordings: The full Blackboard Collaborate recording and a portable .mp3 audio recording will be available shortly after the show.

From Peter's Website:  Peter Cookson’s knowledge of schools and children’s learning needs comes from a lifetime of teaching, researching, and working to improve the quality of education for all children. His first job after college was as a case worker for the New York City Department of Social Services. His days were spent visiting the homes of the city’s most disadvantaged citizens. It is to these families, especially the children, that he owes a life’s commitment to the cause of educational justice.

Peter went on to teach social studies at a large rural public school and history and Latin at a private day school. He returned to NYU to receive a Ph.D. in the Sociology of Education and continued on with a post-graduate certificate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an M.A. from the Yale Divinity School.

He has taught and held leadership positions at several leading colleges and universities, including Teachers College, Columbia University, where he currently teaches the Sociology of Urban Education. He also currently works with schools around the country as the founder of a Washington, D.C. based consulting firm, Ideas without Borders.

Throughout his career he has written, lectured, debated, and researched extensively on the democratic importance of equality of educational opportunity, 21st century learning, and educational innovation. Some of his works include Preparing for Power: America’s Elite Boarding Schools, co-authored with Caroline Hodges Persell (1985); School Choice and the Struggle for the Soul of American Education (1994); Expect Miracles: Charter Schools and the Politics of Hope and Despair, co-authored with Kristina Berger (2002); and his latest book, Sacred Trust: A Children’s Education Bill of Rights (2011). He is completing another book to be published in 2012, The Great Unequalizer: Class and American Education.

Peter’s wife, Susan, worked for many years as a family therapist and is now a professional artist. They have two children and four grandchildren.

From the Website:  Education sociologist and policy expert Peter Cookson boldly describes an actual education bill of rights for American students that will ensure greater equity and improved academic achievement for all. He presents a national blueprint of action that has been endorsed by major political, economic, and educational leaders.
Cookson explains that “a children’s education bill of rights provides a framework for consensus and constructive action that can build bridges of hope and understanding over the chasms of misunderstanding and mistrust that divide us.”
The book asserts that all children have the fundamental right to:
  • a neighborhood public school or a public school of choice that is funded for excellence
  • physical and emotional health and safety
  • have his or her heritage, background, and religious differences honored, incorporated in study, and celebrated in the culture of the school
  • develop individual learning styles and strategies to the greatest extent possible
  • an excellent and dedicated teacher
  • a school leader with vision and educational expertise
  • a curriculum based on relevance, depth, and flexibility
  • have access to the most powerful educational technologies
  • fair, relevant, and learner-based evaluations
  • complete high school
Included are examples from a wide range of public and private schools in rural, urban, and suburban areas that illustrate problems and solutions. Through vivid storytelling and relevant research, Cookson provides specific and innovative steps for creating a concrete action plan that will lead to just, equitable, and first-class schools.
The book includes a Foreword by Rudy Crew, Former Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Former Chancellor, New York City Board of Education.