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Two-day Austin summit to cover education issues, feature top
state and national leaders
Educators, business leaders, state and national policy makers and
others interested in education reform will hold a Statewide Education
Summit in Austin May 17-18. The summit, sponsored by Washington
Mutual and the Texas Public Education Reform Foundation, is intended
to promote public education innovation and improvement and to provide
a forum for dialogue among key stakeholders in education reform.
“The Statewide Education Summit is an opportunity for individuals
and groups from different arenas to come together to share their
ideas for improving our state’s public education system,”
said Vernon Stockton, President, Community and External Affairs,
Washington Mutual.”
All Summit events are open to the press and will be held at the
Hyatt Regency Hotel, 208 Barton Springs Road in Austin.
The Summit will open at 7 p.m. Tuesday (May 17) with a dinner featuring
keynote speaker David Dunn, chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of
Education Margaret Spellings. Also at the dinner, the Texas Public
Education Reform Foundation will present its “Education Achievement
Award” to former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige.
Wednesday (May 18) events will feature a luncheon keynote address
by Governor Rick Perry at 11:45 a.m. and a presentation on “Improving
the Quality of Public Education” by Lt. Governor David Dewhurst
at 9:35 a.m. Tom Luce, chairman and founder of the National Center
for Educational Accountability, will discuss “Using Assessment
to Showcase Excellence and Promote Successful Practices” at
8:55 a.m.
Among the panel discussions on Wednesday, three state lawmakers
will discuss “School Finance Reform” at an 8:15 a.m.
presentation. Participating will be State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte
(D-San Antonio), Rep. Kent Grusendorf (R-Arlington) and Rep. Harold
Dutton (D-Houston).
Other panels that day will address the need to strengthen state
accountability systems, redesigning high schools, teacher compensation,
and how Texas students compare with national trends in student assessment.
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