University of Cincinnati Organizes National Assembly Aimed at Helping Every Student Succeed

University of Cincinnati–based research center launches the first of three national policy assemblies to address the achievement gap in K-12 education

Top-level leaders from K-12 and higher education organizations, as well as business, policy, government agencies, researchers and national charitable groups came together in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Sept. 8, to address achievement gaps among K-12 students. The forum, “Mind the Gap: New Views on Ensuring That All Students Reach Their Full Potential,” will be the first of three national policy assemblies co-sponsored by the Alliance for Curriculum Reform (ACR) and the Academy for Educational Development (AED). It will be held at the AED conference facility located at 1825 Connecticut Ave. NW, in Washington, D.C.

The broad spectrum of national organizations and leaders will focus on ways to ensure a rich, quality, comprehensive and balanced education for all students as the best way to meet standards and accountability requirements, to close achievement gaps and to help all students transition successfully to post-secondary education and employment.

ACR is a collaborative of more than 20 national education organizations, including the University of Cincinnati College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH). University of Cincinnati assistant professor Kent Seidel is director of the ACR Center for Curriculum Leadership and Research, based at the University of Cincinnati. Organization of the assembly and follow-up research and support is being provided by the University of Cincinnati-based center. AED is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to solving critical social problems in the U.S. and around the world.

Seidel says that every state and most school districts are engaged in standards-based, systemic reform initiatives, but says for many classroom teachers, standards-based reform has come to mean two things:

• An endless laundry list of expectations that students must meet
• A series of high-stakes tests that are tied to discrete subject areas and that often spell dire consequences for districts, schools, teachers and students.

“Both of these conditions have driven standards-based reform efforts in directions that tend to fracture learning, diminish teaching and focus attention almost exclusively on the few subject areas represented in these tests,” Seidel says.

The national policy assemblies:

Mind the Gap: New Views on Ensuring That All Students Reach Their Full Potential
September 8, 2005, Academy for Educational Development, Washington, D.C.
Defining and Measuring Student Achievement: A Multidisciplinary Forum
Spring 2006, Academy for Educational Development, Washington, D.C.
Bringing Research to Educational Practice—and Vice Versa
Fall 2006, University of Cincinnati

Learn more about ACR.

Learn more about AED.