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New Tools for Parents: Getting Informed & Getting Involved - Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Time: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
Key Resources on "New Tools for Parents: Getting Informed and Getting Involved"
 Disclaimer
The U.S. Department of Education web site provides tips, resources and information for parents on new tools and options—such as the school report card, school choice, supplemental services, and charter schools—under No Child Left Behind. The department has a parent's web page that includes "Choices for Parents" and a Parent Checklist on Preparing Children for the 21st Century. The Department's site also offers a Choice and Supplemental Service FAQ; the Choosing a School for your Child booklet; and the Innovations in Education book series, which suggests ways to create strong district choice programs and supplemental educational services programs.
KIPP is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory public charter schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States. At KIPP, there are no shortcuts: outstanding educators, more time in school, a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum, and a strong culture of achievement and support help KIPP students make significant academic gains and continue to excel in high school and college.
School Matters gives policymakers, educators, and parents the tools they need to make better-informed decisions that improve student performance. The web site educates Americans about how schools and school districts are performing and helps them understand the complex relationships between achievement and investment. School Matters gives parents and the general public instant access to a wide range of data on local schools and schools districts, enabling them to make informed decisions about the policies they advocate and the schools their children attend.
GreatSchools.net—the "Parent's Guide to K-12 Success"—is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to providing parents with information and tools to choose schools, support their children's education and improve schools in their communities.
Building Choice, an online toolkit of resources for public school choice, is designed to help districts raise student achievement through public school choice programs. This site offers resources drawn from diverse districts across the country that have been identified as having promising practices related to choice.
The Washington Scholarship Fund is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization committed to expanding and improving educational options in Washington, D.C. by enabling low-income families within the District to have a choice in where they send their children to elementary, middle, and high school. WSF is funded by two separate scholarship programs; one of these, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program—the nation's first federally funded K-12 scholarship program—provides eligible D.C. students with up to $7,500 each year each for private school tuition, fees and transportation.
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Participants
In Order of Appearance
Kerri Briggs was appointed Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education in 2005. Prior to that she served as a Special Assistant for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. While at the Department, Dr. Briggs' work has focused on accountability, early childhood education, and special education as well as helping to develop regulations and guidance for the No Child Left Behind Act. Prior to her appointment, Dr. Briggs served as a Research Associate and Director of Evaluation at the University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts. Dr. Briggs is the author of several publications about reading, charter schools, and school based management.
Doris Wilson has been the Superintendent of Desert Sands Unified School District since 1997. At Desert Sands, Dr. Wilson developed a Strategic Plan grounded in fundamental values of success for every student, including a school choice initiative that increases student achievement, supports and involves parents, and builds community partnerships. Under this plan—which holds staff and students to high expectations, provides choice for parents and celebrates success in every school—Desert Sands schools' API and AYP numbers have consistently improved. She previously served as the Superintendent of Sunnyvale School District in Santa Clara County.
Michael Bell is the Assistant Superintendent for Specialized Programs, Miami-Dade County Public Schools. As the leader of the Specialized Programs division, he is responsible for the development and implementation of school choice and advanced academic programs in the fourth largest school district in the nation. Prior to his leadership role with Specialized Programs, Mr. Bell held a variety of teaching and administrative positions with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and currently serves on the State of Florida's Charter School Appeal Commission. Mr. Bell is a School Choice advisor to the United States Department of Education and was a member of an external advisory panel for the Department's Creating Strong District School Choice Programs publication.
Susan Schaeffler is the Executive Director of KIPP ("Knowledge is Power Program") D.C., and founder and former principal of KIPP's K.E.Y. Academy, a charter middle school that serves a predominantly low-income, minority student body in Washington, D.C. Under her leadership, D.C.'s KEY Academy won the 2002 Best All School Attendance Award, and is now the highest performing middle school in the District of Columbia. A former teacher, Ms. Schaeffler has an exemplary record of achievement in the classroom. She began her career with a Teach for America Corps placement at John Howard Elementary, where in 1995 she was voted Teacher of the Year.
Catherine Hill is both an aunt and a grandparent of two students who are taking advantage of the new educational options provided through the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. The program is the nation's first federally funded K-12 scholarship program, which provides eligible D.C. school children with up to $7,500 each year for tuition, fees and transportation. Ms. Hill is a community leader who has lobbied Congress to give voice to low-income families interested in expanding school choice for their children. Her efforts helped to make D.C. Opportunity Scholarships a reality. Administered through the Washington Scholarship Fund, the program is providing scholarships to nearly 2,000 elementary, middle and high school students in the D.C. metro area.
Stacy Kreppel is the Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant Deputy Secretary in the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education. Ms. Kreppel advises the Assistant Deputy Secretary on a variety of issues related to No Child Left Behind, including the supplemental educational services and public school choice provisions of the law. Ms. Kreppel also serves as a contributing editor to The Education Innovator, the Office of Innovation and Improvement newsletter. Prior to her present position, Ms. Kreppel served as a Program Analyst in the Department's Policy and Program Studies Service, where she worked on evaluations of teacher quality programs. She successfully completed the two-year Presidential Management Intern Program while at the Department.
Marcus Newsome is the Superintendent of Schools for Newport News Public Schools in Virginia. Shortly following his appointment in 2003, Dr. Newsome outlined a comprehensive framework for school improvement called "A Blueprint for Excellence—Communities Committed to Learning." His plan provided a long-range dynamic process to prepare students for the 21st century. Under his leadership, students have shown significant increases on the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) test scores, and the number of schools meeting the federal standards for Adequately Yearly Progress has more than doubled. Dr. Newsome has also developed exploratory courses for middle school students, developed a district-wide Individualized Intervention Plan for students performing below grade level, and expanded opportunities for students in early childhood education, magnet schools, and college preparatory programs.
Ned Rimer is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Citizen Schools, an organization dedicated to providing quality out-of-school programming and supplemental educational services. Mr. Rimer has been an educator, non-profit leader and manager for the past twenty years. He spent several years as a high school teacher at the Close Up Foundation, using the city of Washington as a classroom without walls and conducting innovative experiential lessons on government and international relations. Mr. Rimer has also served as an administrator for the Close Up Foundation and as the Director of East Coast Operations for Pacific Intercultural Exchange, a non-profit organization that provides educational experiences at U.S. schools for students from across the globe. Ned has been a volunteer instructor with the American Red Cross since 1981, and is an active lecturer at Boston University's School of Management and Lesley University's College of Education.
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