U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit New Orleans on Friday, April 8 to deliver keynote remarks at the Education Writers Association National Seminar. During his visit, Duncan will also host two events, a panel discussion highlighting the work of New Schools for New Orleans and the Louisiana Recovery School District, one of the 49 Investing in Innovation (i3) grant winners, and a town hall to promote the TEACH Campaign.
At 11 a.m. CDT, Duncan will participate in an education panel discussion on the Department’s i3 fund and highlight the work of the local i3 grant winner, New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) and the Louisiana Recovery School District at the KIPP Believe College Prep School. Additional panel participants will include New Orleans's Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer, Andy Kopplin, Stanford University’s CREDO Director, Margaret Raymond, FirstLine Schools Board Chair, Dana Peterson, KIPP New Orleans Schools Board President, Rhonda Kalifey Aluise, and KIPP Parent Dawn McCormick. NSNO is a New Orleans-based nonprofit that works with the Louisiana Recovery School District to engage organizations, governing institutions and community groups in assisting schools in ways that strengthen school leadership and improve student performance. Following the panel, Founder and CEO of New Schools for New Orleans Sarah Newell Usdin and Louisiana Department of Education Deputy Director of Governmental Affairs, Patrick Dobard will hold a question ad answer session. Last year, NSNO and the Louisiana Recovery School District were awarded an i3 grant by the U.S. Department of Education to start up and expand effective charter operators in New Orleans and Tennessee. The Department’s i3 grant fund is a competitive grants program, created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that expands and invests in evidence-based practices, programs and strategies to significantly improve student achievement, close achievement gaps, decrease dropout rates, and improve teacher and school leader effectiveness.
At 12:30 p.m. CDT, Duncan will deliver a keynote address to education journalists from across the nation at the Education Writers Association (EWA) National Seminar at the New Orleans Intercontinental Hotel. In his remarks, Duncan will discuss the growing need to fix No Child Left Behind. He will also encourage education reporters to help make the impact of reforms tangible by tracing their impact down to the classroom and by reporting on both the status quo and the challenges to change. The EWA National Seminar is an annual event that brings together hundreds of regional and national education reporters as well as education stakeholders to showcase research, current events, challenges and successes in education across the United States. This year’s 3-day seminar is hosted in New Orleans to help draw attention to the impact of the recession on the city’s local economy as well as touch on continuing efforts to rebuild the city post-Katrina.
At 2 p.m. CDT, Secretary Duncan will join Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Loyola University President Reverend Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., Ph.D., New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul, New Orleans Saints cornerback Leigh Torrence and several New Orleans community leaders to host a TEACH town hall at Loyola University New Orleans. Duncan will talk with college students about the President’s national initiative to recruit the next generation of great teachers through the TEACH Campaign. The town hall meeting will bring together 500 students and teachers as part of a national effort to celebrate teachers and engage more young adults in the teaching profession. With the upcoming retirement of Baby Boomers, the TEACH Campaign is centered on transforming public education in America by recruiting great new teachers to join those already in the classroom.
To learn more about the TEACH campaign and teaching opportunities in your area, visit www.teach.gov.