Education tips for education students

Penn hosted the first of a series of regional forums last Thursday and Friday, which addressed solutions for turning around low-performing schools. The Consortium for Policy Research in Education, housed at Penn's Graduate School of Education, and the U.S. Department of Education jointly sponsored the event at the Inn at Penn. The forum included a series of discussions by education experts on topics such as available research, policy issues at the federal, state and local levels and technical assistance for improving the quality of teaching and instruction in high-poverty schools. According to GSE Dean Susan Fuhrman, the director of the CPRE, the forum was an opportunity to "reach out beyond us [CPRE] to researchers in the field," and to engage in what she described as an "excellent discussion among high-caliber people." According to the GSE Department of Communications, there has been a longstanding relationship between these two organizations. "We're bringing together a number of researchers and practitioners to inform the U.S. Education Department and to support high-quality instruction and improved learning in low-performing schools," Fuhrman said in a press release. CPRE was created in 1985 and brings together five of the nation's leading research institutions to improve elementary and secondary education through research and policy. Fuhrman was joined by representatives from education research institutions and school districts from all over the country. Among the roughly 30 participants were Joe Johnson, site director of the Charles Dana Center at the University of Texas, and Michael Cohen, the assistant secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Schools in the U.S. Education Department. Jeanne Vissa, director of Teacher Education and a GSE professor, characterized the discussion as a "descriptive focus on what are the impediments to low-performing schools turning themselves around." Vissa, who was previously a school principal herself, identified some of the key points addressed during the forum, including the need for stability of staff and the degree of teaching experience required to offer targeted instruction. The U.S. Education Department will issue a report summarizing the points generated during the discussion. "We came out with several themes at each level of government -- district, state and federal," Fuhrman said. According to Fuhrman, CPRE promises to play an active role in the rest of the series of regional forums.

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