The purpose of this series of webcasts is to communicate directly with state educational agency (SEA) and local educational agency (LEA) staff—those who guide and support the work of schools—on issues related to the implementation of NCLB. Our fourth production on August 26, 2004, focused on the Title I, Part A requirements for meaningful parental involvement.

Video Segments

Note: Streaming video time represents the broadcast duration. The streaming video loads as it plays and requires no download time. Viewer downloads for Real Player and Windows Media are available on the Department's Technology Requirements Plug-ins and Viewers page.

Introduction
Ray Simon

Real Player (3.6MB) | Windows Media (1.7MB) (45 seconds)
Transcript in Rich Text Format (10K)

Panel Discussion
Moderated by Lorraine Wise

Real Player (197MB) | Windows Media (93MB) (43 minutes 1 second)
Transcript in Rich Text Format (58K)

Closing
Ray Simon

Real Player (3.6MB) | Windows Media (1.7MB) (45 seconds)
Transcript in Rich Text Format (11.9K)

Presenters from the U.S. Department of Education

Ray Simon, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, US Department of Education.

Ray Simon recently joined the Department of Education as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. He comes from Arkansas, where he was the Director of the Arkansas Department of Education until his appointment by President Bush.

Mr. Simon has been involved in Arkansas education since 1966, when he began his career as a mathematics teacher at North Little Rock High School in the Conway School District. He held many positions in the Conway School district, including the position of Superintendent from 1991 to 1997.

Lorraine Wise, Early Childhood and Reading Group, Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs (SASA), U.S. Department of Education

Lorraine Wise is a senior member of the Early Childhood and Reading Group within SASA. She is the policy specialist for family-school-community relationships and social policy issues. Ms. Wise has spent nearly a decade promoting parental involvement by developing parent involvement literature, working directly with parents, SEAs, school districts and schools, through presentations and training at conferences and workshops, and by coordinating with researchers, consultants, parent groups, organizations, businesses and other entities.

Presenters from the Field

Ronald Houston, Director for School Improvement, Delaware Department of Education

Ronald Houston is the state Director for School Improvement at the Delaware Department of Education. In this role, he supervises a staff responsible for managing federal and state programs as well as the state's implementation of the LEA Consolidated Application, Consolidated Quality Review, and a consolidated School Support system. Prior to working in this position, Mr. Houston was a research associate at Research for Better Schools, conducting research on improving schools, the education of disadvantaged children, and the use of technology to improve instruction.

Sonia Díaz-Salcedo, Superintendent, Bridgeport Public Schools (Connecticut)

Dr. Sonia Díaz-Salcedo was appointed Superintendent of the Bridgeport Public Schools on July 1, 2000. Prior to coming to Bridgeport, Dr. Díaz-Salcedo served as Superintendent of Community School District One in Lower Manhattan, New York City. She began her career in education as a first grade bilingual teacher, and she has served in a variety of administrative and research positions since then in Boston, Providence, and Washington, DC. In Bridgeport, Dr. Díaz-Salcedo is restructuring schools to ensure that all students become successful readers, writers and speakers at every grade level.

Robert Witherspoon, Jr. (Bob), Senior Research Associate, RMC Research Corporation

Mr. Witherspoon is a former training specialist and Executive Director of the National Coalition of Title I/Chapter I Parents where he coordinated the information, training and technical assistance services of the organization's headquarters, The National Parent Center in Washington, D.C. An educator and family/community involvement specialist for more than 25 years, Bob has specialized experience in Title I, family-school community partnerships and urban education issues.