Education Forum Calls Us All to Action- Reprinted from Education Matters-Achieve Hartford Newsletter

Education Forum Calls Us All to Action

In its 2nd Annual Education Policy Forum, the CT Black Alliance for Education Options (CT BAEO) featured an impressive slate of speakers discussing "The Economics of a Great Education" and what underlies both the actions and inactions policy makers are proposing to address the achievement gap. Panelists included Ramani Ayer, member of the CT Governor's Commission on Achievement and retired CEO of The Hartford; Gerard Robinson, the Secretary of Education for the State of Virginia; David Johns, the Senior Education Policy Advisor to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Julio Fuentes, President and CEO of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (HCREO); and three other leaders in education policy.  The panel discussed both the actions that can be taken and the amount of money that can be saved if we turn around the dismal state of education in our country, where: · 47% of Latino students fail to graduate high school on time; · Three-quarters of all prison inmates are high school dropouts;  · Young black males are 3 times more likely to get expelled from Pre-K programs than are young white males; and · 9,000 Pre-K aged children in CT currently lack access to Pre-K programs. Founded on the premise that people who can afford to move to desirable towns and cities have multiple education options for their children, while those without means can only attend the school that exists in their neighborhood - regardless of its quality - the Black Alliance for Education Options promotes the need for school choice and education reform in high poverty areas, like Hartford and Bridgeport. A key, school choice-related take-away from the panel was that "school options are good only if parents are informed of their choices."  Achieve Hartford! agrees wholeheartedly and continues to grow its Parent Choice Education Program, hoping more organizations will make it a point to help families in Hartford understand all the education options that exist for their children. We also felt that an additional highlight of the evening came after the panel when keynote speaker Kevin Chavous delivered a rousing call to action. As a former Washington DC Council Member, a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Education Reform, co-founder of the Democrats for Education Reform and founding member of the Education Equality Project, Mr. Chavous advocates for a revolution in mind and action to improve the life of children in America. He calls for a less tentative approach; an attitude more urgent than "nice."  Read about who Kevin thinks is the new "Rosa Parks" in this revolution, in a story in the Washington Times.