Education Week observance features talk on standards

Academic standards, literacy and get-tough approaches to troubled schools are themes for the School of Education’s second annual observance of American Education Week, Nov. 16-21.

The keynote event will be a free public lecture by Lauren Resnick, a psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the leaders in the movement to set high academic standards for K-12 students. She will discuss the ways that classrooms, schools and school districts must be reorganized in order to support radical, sustainable education reform.

The talk is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the State Historical Society. A reception will follow.

An internationally known cognitive scientist, Resnick is the co-founder and co-director of New Standards, a consortium of states and school districts that are developing a system of academic standards for American students.

Also on Thursday, Professor Jennifer O’Day of the UW–Madison educational policy studies department will give a luncheon presentation titled “Schools That Fail Our Children: Is Reconstitution the Answer?” O’Day is researching the controversial practice of reconstitution, which involves transferring or even firing the staff of failing schools.

The luncheon will start at 11:45 a.m. at the University Club. The cost is $8; to make a reservation, call 262-5023.

On Friday, Nov. 20, a day-long symposium at the Memorial Union will be devoted to the topic “Literacy at School and in the World: Dilemmas and Directions for Today and Tomorrow.” Guest presenters include Gunther Kress, a professor at the University of London and one of the world’s leading scholars on language and literacy, and Jabari Mahiri, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley and the author of “Shooting for Excellence: African American and Youth Culture’s Role in New Century Schools.”

James Paul Gee, the Tashia F. Morgridge Professor of Reading at UW- Madison, will discuss the School of Education’s newly restructured program in reading licenses and literacy. Also speaking will be a panel of Wisconsin educators.

The symposium fee, which includes lunch, is $20 for the general public and $12 for UW–Madison students, faculty and staff. Members of the UW–Madison community may attend any of the individual presentations for free, but advance registration is required. To receive a complete schedule, call 262-0054.

Other events during the week include a one-day workshop titled “Reading the Americas: Latino Literature for Children and Teenagers” Tuesday, Nov. 17. For more information call 262-4477.

Also, an instructional technology fair will be held at the new Center for Instructional Materials and Computing, 368 Teacher Education Building, Friday, Nov. 20, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. School of Education faculty and staff will demonstrate uses of instructional technology.