Events

American education today has one goal. And it’s not teaching students. It’s raising test scores. High-stakes testing, launched as a way to evaluate Teaching and determine whether students were learning, has become an end in itself. And it’s ruining education.

We are experiencing an organic crisis of democracy, international in scope. This conference will draw together intellectuals and activists from across the globe to examine and explore different dimensions of that crisis.

As Congress considers the Trump-DeVos proposals for a national voucher program, what can we learn from the history of vouchers and from the research on the performance of voucher systems?

Co-sponsored by the Shanker Institute and the American Federation of Teachers.

A wave of teacher strikes in the 1960s and 1970s roiled urban communities. Jon Shelton illuminates how this tumultuous era helped shatter the liberal-labor coalition and opened the door to the neoliberal challenge at the heart of urban education today.

Former Shanker Institute Fellow and author of the new book, "Domino Effect: Did the USA Overthrow Communism in Poland?"

From a variety of perspectives, our panelists examined the state of segregation by race and class in America’s schools, and the promising initiatives and practices that are emerging in the renewed movement to integrate America’s schools.

From a variety of different perspectives and work with different populations of vulnerable students, our panel examined the challenges facing American educators and the best practices educators have developed to address them.

Our panel of researchers and practitioners addressed this question by examining both the current state of research and on-the-ground efforts at school improvement that have worked.

Current education policies haven’t sufficiently leveraged the organizational and interpersonal aspects of schools which can benefit educators and students collectively.

Promoting Children's Well Being. This panel examined 21st century approaches to a culture of health in and with schools.

Our panelists will examine a number of different figures and moments in the history of the AFT from a variety of different perspectives.

To address this challenge, this conference will bring together an international body of thinkers, analysts and activists.

Following the November 8th elections, our panel discussed their impact on American education, from a number of different points on the political spectrum and a variety of policy perspectives on American education.

Sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute and the American Federation of Teachers, this conversation series held the second Wednesay of the month during the school year, is designed to engender lively and informative discussions on important educational issues.

What is the appropriate response of American educators to this critical situation? What must be done to provide English language learners with the quality education that addresses their specific needs?

The distinguished speakers discuss the current international refugee crisis and draw historical parallels with the anti-refugee sentiments in the World War II era.

Our panel will investigate some of the most promising efforts on that front around the country, as teacher unions find new ways to negotiate contracts for educational innovation and improvement and build new partnerships with community around that work.

Controversial new regulations for teacher education have been proposed by the U.S. Ed Dept. Although there are objections to the regulations, the controversy centers on the proposed measures of teaching performance.

Presidential Session, Washington, D.C. Panelists: Deborah Lowenberg Ball, Ellen Bernstein, Leo Casey, Susan Moore Johnson.

The notion that teaching and learning are social endeavors may seem obvious. Yet, the implications of that statement for research, policy and practice are less so. This conference foregrounds recent evidence showing that social aspects of schools and school systems deeply influence school improvement.

What do we need to provide to students in poverty, many of them students of color, to enable them to succeed in school? OOr panel will examine what this model of schooling entails and how well it meets the educational needs of impoverished students of color.

This panel discussed why teacher diversity is important and how it can be strengthened through recruitment, retention, and continued support for teachers of color.

More than six decades after the Supreme Court declared that “separate but equal” education was a violation of the “equal protection of the law” afforded by the U.S. Constitution, American schools remain deeply segregated.