The U.S. Department of Education has named 22 cities as sites for its annual summer regional workshops for teachers to learn best practices from fellow educators successful in raising student achievement, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today.

"As we draw nearer to our No Child Left Behind goal of every child reading and doing math at grade level by 2014, it is ever more important that our hard-working teachers have the tools and the knowledge they need to raise student achievement. This year, 2007, will mark the fourth summer that the Department has given teachers across the country an opportunity to meet with their colleagues and learn new strategies that work in the classroom," Spellings said. "We are pleased to have the support of several co-hosts this year, which enables us to increase the number of workshops by a third—from 14 held in 2006 to 22 this year. As a result, our workshops will expand their reach to 4,000 teachers nationwide who, in turn, can apply their newfound knowledge as classroom teachers to an expected 1.5 million students nationwide."

This year's co-hosts include two federal government agencies—the National Park Service (NPS); the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); a number of TechNet partners, including Microsoft, EMC, AMD, Symantec, the University of Nevada, and Motorola; as well as Target, General Motors Corp., Siemens Foundation and MATHCOUNTS.

The workshops are part of the Department's Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative, which supports teachers in a variety of ways, including keeping them informed about the latest strategies and research for closing the achievement gap and helping all students meet high standards.

Each workshop will include numerous breakout sessions featuring effective teachers and practitioners sharing strategies that have been successful in their classrooms, schools and districts.

Below are the workshop dates, locations, subjects covered, and co-host when applicable:

• May 31-June 1; Houston, Texas; math, science; NASA
• June 5-6; Albuquerque, N.M.; reading, art, history, languages
• June 7-8; El Paso, Texas (Chamizal National Memorial); reading, history; NPS
• June 12-13; Homestead, Fla. (Everglades National Park); science; NPS
• June 19-20; Estes Park, Colo. (Rocky Mountain National Park); reading, science, history; NPS
• June 21-22; Phoenix, Ariz.; reading, science, math for charter school teachers
• June 25-26; Santa Clara, Calif; math, science; EMC
• June 27-28; Orange County, Calif.; reading, math, art, early childhood; Target
• July 9-10; Redmond, Wash.; math, science; Microsoft
• July 9-10; Mountain View, Calif.; math, science; Symantec
• July 12-13; Austin, Texas; math; AMD and Spansion
• July 16-17; Schaumburg, Ill.; math, science; Motorola
• July 19-20; Louisville, Ky.; reading, early childhood, languages, art; Target
• July 23-24, Miami, Fla.; reading, math, science for charter school teachers
• July 25-26; Waltham, Mass.; math, science; Microsoft
• July 30-31; Porter, Ind. (Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore); science, history; NPS
• July 31-Aug 1; Warren, Mich.; math, science (GM/MATHCOUNTS)
• Aug 2-3; Herndon, Va.; foreign languages
• Aug 2-3; Reno, Nev.; math, science; University of Nevada
• Aug 6-7; Lowell, Mass. (Lowell National Historic Park); history, science, art; NPS
• Aug 6-7; Chicago, Ill.; math, science; Siemens
• Aug 9-10; Anchorage, Alaska (Alaska National Parks) reading, math, science, history, art; NPS

Agendas for each workshop will be posted at www.ed.gov/teacherinitiative during January. Registration for the free workshops will begin April 8.

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