Education Showcase and More at "Our Great Education Challenge"

We'll be holding a special Education Showcase featuring local education groups in the Bushnell theater lobby on Thursday, November 11 as a part of our second Forum of the Season, Our Great Education Challenge.

The Education Showcase will be available to Forum audience members beginning at 7pm, during intermission, and immediately following The Forum. The Showcase offers an opportunity to interact with local education groups, ask questions and learn more.

The following organizations will be part of the Education Showcase:

Achieve Hartford: Achieve Hartford is an independent, nonprofit organization of business and community leaders that focuses on student achievement and supporting effective and sustained school reform in the Hartford Public Schools.

CBIA Education Foundation: CBIA's Education Foundation is a nonprofit affiliate of CBIA whose mission is to help develop a skilled, knowledgeable workforce in Connecticut.

CommPACT Schools: CommPACT Schools is a partnership including the American Federation of Teachers - Connecticut; Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents; Connecticut Education Association; Connecticut Federation of School Administrators; and Neag School of Education at The University of Connecticut.

ConnCAN: ConnCAN is a platform for Connecticut citizens to effectively speak up for kids. To close Connecticut's gaping achievement gap, a new ethos of reform must permeate state government, the education establishment, and the wide community of citizens.

The Connecticut State University System: The Connecticut State University System is an exemplary state university system advancing the educational needs of the citizens of Connecticut and the nation within a global society.

William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: The mission of The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund is to improve the effectiveness of education in fostering both personal development and leadership. A belief that education benefits both individuals and society as a whole guides their work.

University of Connecticut Neag School of Education: The Neag School of Education works to develop students with strong ethical standards into leaders dedicated to improving education, health and wellness for all children and adults.

Sheff Movement: The Sheff Movement Coalition is a collaboration of parents, citizens, educators and others who work to educate the public about proven voluntary integration measures and increase support for quality education for all children.

The Connecticut YOUTH Forum Student Voices: With more than 750 high school-aged youth from 40 high schools and community groups, The CT YOUTH Forum comes together year round to exchange ideas and learn from one another. We invite you to ask us about our schools and our views on education.

Waiting for "Superman" Director Davis Guggenheim Joins CT Forum Education Panel

Davis Guggenheim

Exciting news!
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM
Director of the highly anticipated film
Waiting for Superman, as well as
An Inconvenient Truth
will be a panelist at our upcoming Forum,
Our Great Education Challenge , on November 11, 2010.

He will join fellow panelist Joel Klein, chancellor of New York Public Schools, and other panelists to be announced soon.

Davis Guggenheim is an American film director and producer who is perhaps best known for directing and producing An Inconvenient Truth, the Academy Award winning documentary about global warming.

His most recent documentary, Waiting for "Superman" explores the ways in which the American public education system is failing our nation’s children, and the roles that charter schools and education reformers could play in the future. Guggenheim sees dysfunction in our schools and in the politics around them. “Why can’t there be a great school for every kid in America? It just doesn’t make sense to me. That’s why I made this movie.” His hope for the film is to “engage real people to get involved in the subject so that we can create enough political will to change our system.”

Earlier in his career, Guggenheim focused on the challenging first year of several novice public school teachers in The Los Angeles public school system in his documentary films, The First Year and Teach. He made these films to address the tremendous need for qualified teachers in California and nationwide, to create awareness of the crisis in our schools, and to inspire the next generation to become teachers.

His other film and television credits as a producer and director include Training Day, The Shield, Alias, 24, NYPD Blue, ER, Deadwood, and Party of Five. In 2009, he directed and produced a documentary It Might Get Loud, about the history of the electric guitar and careers and styles of Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White.

He lives in California with his wife, actress Elisabeth Shue, and their three children.

Joel Klein Comes to The Forum!

The Connecticut Forum Announces:

Joel Klein to be a Panelist at
Our Great Education Challenge
Thursday, November 11, 2010.

The Connecticut Forum is bringing renowned educational innovator Joel Klein to Our Great Education Challenge. As New York City schools chancellor, Klein oversees over 1,600 schools with 1.1 million students, 136,000 employees, and a $21-billion operating budget.

Joel I. Klein became New York City schools chancellor in July 2002 after serving in the highest levels of government and business. When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appointed Mr. Klein, a graduate of New York City public schools, as the first chancellor of the newly-reorganized Department of Education, he called the new chancellor, “a true leader who never shies away from the tough and sometimes controversial decisions that are necessary to implement change.”

Mr. Klein’s comprehensive education reform program, Children First, is transforming the nation's largest public school system into a system of great schools. These initiatives have made a real difference for New York City students -- achievement is up, students and families have more and better choices, schools are safer, and principals are more empowered. He has also served as assistant attorney general in charge of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division and as the chairman and chief executive officer of Bertelsmann, Inc.

Also active in community service work, Mr. Klein has participated in Big Brothers, served as chairman of the board of the Green Door, a pioneer community-based treatment program for mentally ill residents of the District of Columbia, and as treasurer of the World Federation for Mental Health. He was a member of a U.S. Department of State delegation in 1991 to examine issues of psychiatric abuse in the Soviet Union. He has also served on the board of several non-profit organizations, including the National Symphony Orchestra Association.

Watch Klein in an interview with Charlie Rose :

John Legend Discusses Education on Morning Joe

Today, Forum Music Fest panelist John Legend discussed the nation's Education system on MSNBC's Morning Joe alongside (former CT Forum panelist) Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Rev. Al Sharpton, Mike Barnicle, and others.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Click here to watch the entire discussion

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd on education and technology

Senator Chris Dodd was a Forum panelist back in 1994 at a Forum titled Children & Education: A Look into the Future. As we think about Dodd's long career as Connecticut's Senator, here's a clip of him at that Forum, talking about education and technology.



Although this was nearly sixteen years ago, the issues that he and the rest of the panel addressed that evening continue to be of urgent importance.

The Forum's Founding President, Richard Sugarman, remembers Chris Dodd: "It struck me then, and it has struck me since then, that he really cares about children, education and these issues. It never felt like political speak. It felt like it was in his gut and in his heart."

What Price Paid?

By Pat Rossiter, Connecticut YOUTH Forum Program Manager

It seems that times are really tough...

The state of education funding in Connecticut: Group Seeks to Avert State Education Spending Cuts

The state of education funding in California: Ads on Test Add up for Teacher

Maybe it's just me, but I feel if there is any chance for the State or for the Union, it is going to depend on the education that is provided to our kids today. I certainly understand that current economic conditions leave our elected officials with some tough decisions, but isn't it just obvious that the best "economic stimulus" action we can take is to make sure future workers are prepared to work? When teachers are left scrambling to make copies of tests by selling ad space, just what message does that give to kids? "Your education is not important enough for us to fund." "You are a commodity and access to you is more valuable than educating you."

How about here in Connecticut? Check out this Connecticut Voices for Children Report.

I do not think the state budget is swimming in pork. In fact, I know there are tremendously valuable and needed programs and services funded by the state. I'm also convinced, though, that educating our children should be last on a long list of places to cut budgets.

Go Directly To Jail...

By Pat Rossiter, Connecticut YOUTH Forum Program Manager

The ACLU has been busy in Connecticut’s schools. Two reports were released today outlining the way kids are being treated in schools.

The first, “Hard Lessons: School Resource Officer Programs and School-Based Arrests in Three Connecticut Towns,” outlines the rate of arrests of students in Hartford, East Hartford and West Hartford’s schools. According to this article, the report indicates that minority students are arrested at double the rate of white students for the same offense.

In New Haven, “Zero-Tolerance” policies “…force school administrators to seek suspensions or expulsions of students even when the sanctions serve no legitimate or substantial state interest,” and “deprive students of rights to education.”

I have two thoughts. Isn’t the presence of a police officer in a school a presumption of guilt that would not be tolerated by any adult in their workplace? It certainly conjures images of “Big Brother” in my mind and, it would seem, gives a clear message to students in schools: this environment is unsafe and YOU are making it that way.

Next, nothing in my life or in any part of the world I have observed is ever black and white. “Zero-tolerance” policies are archaic and ineffective. Education of kids is not simply arithmetic, English and other academic pursuits. It is teaching children how to interact and solve conflicts and be, well adults. Where I come from, adults look at all sides of a conflict or issue and make a reasonable decision. Those are the kinds of lessons we can all learn from.

I’d love to hear comments and reactions…