The U.S. Education Department’s Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton, as well as Alejandra Ceja and Marco Davis from the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics (WHIEEH), will participate in the second American Latino National Summit on Tuesday, Aug. 5, in San Antonio, Texas.
Shelton will give the summit’s opening remarks at 1 p.m. CT, discussing equity in education and President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, aimed at addressing persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and helping all young people succeed and reach their potential.
At 2 p.m. CT, Davis will moderate a panel titled “Innovation in Promoting Achievement in K-12: Getting to the Finish Line.” Panelists include U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego from Texas and Elisa Villanueeva Beard, Co-CEO of Teach for America.
At 4:45 p.m. CT, Ceja will discuss the importance of investing in education for Latinos and the WHIEEH’s work to better inform policy decisions that increase the academic success of Latino students.
Sponsored by the New America Alliance Institute, the summit is bringing together Hispanic leaders from diverse sectors to emphasize the economic issues for American Latino advancement, including education, that contribute to development and progress in the Latino community.
The Obama Administration’s commitment to equity in education underlies nearly every significant activity of the Education Department — from My Brother’s Keeper to the proposed Race to the Top-Equity and Opportunity grant program, which would create incentives for states and school districts to drive comprehensive change in how they identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps.