We want our guests to leave the 2013 LEARN Education Conference knowing what next steps they can take to help improve public education for America's students.  Along those lines, we will be connecting individuals and organizations with the LEARN Volunteer Consulting Program, facilitating introductions, and fostering a dialogue that seeks to identify "action areas" for each education solution debated at the Conference.  

Public education in America is failing millions of our school children.  Recognizing this, LEARN will host the annual LEARN Education Conference, The Debate for America’s Future: Assessing the Viability of Public Education Solutions, on Saturday, February 23, at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

The Conference will connect over 400 attendees, including education leaders in the public and private sectors and graduate students who want to use their advanced degrees to help improve public education.  By connecting with leaders in education reform at the Conference, participants will be able to leverage their own skills to help improve America’s schools.  

Superintendents and leaders on the front lines of education reform will discuss what investments in education have worked to improve student outcomes in their districts, on a keynote panel that includes: William Hite (Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia); Paul Vallas, (Interim Superintendent, Bridgeport Public Schools; former Superintendent of the Recovery School District of Louisiana); Bob Corcoran (President & Chairman, GE Foundation) will discuss results from the large educational investments made by the GE Foundation; Sarah Yatsko (Senior Researcher with the Center on Reinventing Public Education) will draw upon her research of School District strategies nationwide; and James H. Lytle (Education Policy Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and Superintendent for the Trenton Public Schools from 1998-2006) will moderate the discussion.

Solution-specific panels with education leaders will debate hot topics in education, helping attendees identify where they can apply their skills to implement effective solutions.

• Teacher Evaluation Systems: Measuring and Improving Teacher Quality or Creating an Adversarial and Arbitrary Environment? 
  
• District-Charter Collaboration: Forging a Constructive Relationship 
  
• View from Inside the Classroom
  
• School Intervention and Turnaround Models
  
• Technology in the Classroom: Revolutionary or an Unnecessary Distraction to the Core Curriculum? 
  

Registration and more information about the Conference’s lineup of keynotes, panels, and events are available here.

The Conference has been approved for 4.5 hours of substantive CLE credit and 0 hours of ethics CLE credit for Pennsylvania lawyers. 

The Leaders in Education Advocacy and Reform Network (L.E.A.R.N.) and the Fels Institute of Government present:

The Future of the Philadelphia School District
A Discussion with Thomas Knudsen, Chief Recovery Officer

Thursday, September 20th at 6pm in the Fels Institute of Government Seminar Room

In the last two years, the Philadelphia School District has been confronted with significant management and financial challenges. At this discussion, Mr. Knudsen will dissect the state of the District and the efforts that are in motion to change the city's educational ecosystem.  The discussion will also address some key questions about the immediate future of public education reform in Philadelphia: What are the potential growing pains we can expect PSD to experience during its recovery?  How should the top managers prepare for sound fiscal and personnel management as the District changes? What is the role for young leadership in this changing environment?  The audience will also have the opportunity to learn more about Mr. Knudsen's rich career in public management.  Join us!

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Please RVSP for this event using the following survey.

Please join L.E.A.R.N. (Leaders in Education Advocacy and Reform Network) and the Federalist Society for a debate on affirmative action: "Race Preference in University Admissions" featuring Professor Lino Graglia (Texas Law) v. Professor Randall Kennedy (Harvard Law) moderated by Professor Amy Wax (Penn Law). 

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently granted certiorari in Fisher v. University of Texas, a case which will allow the Court to review the precedent set in Grutter. Will they uphold? Overturn? Join us as two of the Nation's leading experts on Affirmative Action debate its merits and future. Fisher is gearing up to be one of the most contentious and important cases for the Supreme Court's next term. 

Will Affirmative Action be established as a bedrock American principle or will it become a thing of the past? Come find out on Thursday April 19th at noon in Room S-240B at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Mission Grill will be catering lunch.

For more information on Fisher v. Texas: http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/fisher-v-university-of-texas-at-austin/