One of the nation's leading education innovators will discuss at a conference at the University of Rochester this month how to put principles of educational reform into practice.
Ted Sizer, chairman of the Coalition of Essential Schools, will give the keynote address at the conference on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1993. Entitled "From Rhetoric to Reality," the conference meets from 3:30 to 9:00 p.m. in Hutchison Hall on the University's River Campus.
The Coalition of Essential Schools is a network of nearly 400 schools across the United States which are dedicated to revising education based on a set of commonly held principles. The coalition is sponsored jointly by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the National Association of Independent Schools.
In his most recent book, Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School, Sizer argues that each school should design a series of "exhibitions" that would enable students to display their knowledge, skills, and habits of mind as a precondition for receiving their diploma. The book argues that individual school communities should develop their own standards and performance assessments, rather than having them imposed from outside.
Following Sizer's remarks, a panel will respond to him. Panelists include Catherine Spoto, president of the Rochester Board of Education; William Johnson, president of the Urban League; Lynn Reuss of the New York State Education Department; Thomas Jones, principal of Brighton High School; and Kathleen Donahue, chair of the Monroe County Federation of Teachers. The program also will feature small-group workshops led by staff members from the School Without Walls, the Children's School, and Marshall High School.
Following the workshops, there will be a reception to celebrate the renaming of the University's education school to the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
The conference is sponsored by the University of Rochester's education school in collaboration with more than two dozen local organizations.
Registration in advance is required. The deadline is Oct. 12. The fee is $26, which includes a box supper. To register or obtain additional information, call 275-8270.
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