High School, Then What?
Our 2006 retreat took place at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort
in the mountains of Utah. Our day-time sessions focused on the changing
role of a secondary education in American society. We heard presentations
from major figures and organizations that influence policy and reform
efforts, including: Tom Vander Ark with the Gates Foundation; Ronald
Ferguson with the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government;
sociologist Marta Tienda from Princeton University; James Kemple from
MDRC; Richard Rothstein, former New York Times education columnist
and professor; and Gregg Betheill and Bill Taylor with the National
Academy Foundation.
As with past retreats, we turned to the arts to guide our discussion
of cultural identity and isolation in America. Author Kathleen Alcalá,
spoke about “cultural literacy” and the immigration experience
as depicted in her historical novel, The Flower in the Skull;
Chris Lippard joined us from the film studies department at the University
of Utah to discuss representations of cultural conflict in film and
lead us through an analysis and discussion of Crash. During
a spectacular thunder & lightening storm, we gathered on the covered
stage of an out-door mountain amphitheater for a private concert with
blues duo Cephas & Wiggins, who talked to us about the Piedmont
and Delta blues forms and the people who created the distinct genres.
Click here for more information about the agenda and
speakers and to view speaker presentations.
Women in Leadership Conference
The Women in Leadership conference provides practical and in-depth
leadership
training for women in education at all levels, including women just
starting a career in
leadership. This conference will show you how to create a track record
of student
achievement in your current job so that you can build your career on
your own proven
success. The conference will focus on career strategies, student achievement,
leadership models, personal and professional balance, and working with
stakeholders.
If you are interested in receiving information about upcoming conferences
in your area,
please send an email to kjohns@syfrcorp.com.
We also encourage you to view highlights from
the San Antonio and Long Beach
conferences, such as speaker presentations, speaker bios, etc.
Is Accountability Enough?
Our 2005 summer seminar focused on the concept of accountability by asking whether accountability and other performance-based management strategies are appropriate policies for education and whether they can close learning gaps. Through presentations from economists, business analysts, and historians, we examined the challenges facing public school educators as they struggle to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind while at the same time preparing their students for a world in which educational attainment plays an ever greater role. To learn more about the agenda and speakers, and to view speaker presentations, click here.
Using Rigor and Small Learning Communities to Accelerate Learning for Underserved Students
Together with the College Board, Syfr hosted three conferences dedicated to accelerating successful participation of underserved students in Advanced Placement (AP) programs and to increasing pass rates on exams and success in post secondary education. Click here to read about this conference and view speaker materials.
Tomorrow's Classroom Today
When examining the impact of technology on public school education, we have concentrated on the impact of technology on student learning. We have tended to ignore he potential role of technological innovation in improving the quality of teaching in a classroom. To address this oversight, Syfr Corporation is working with service centers and school districts across the country to host a series of one-day conferences that focus on the issue of teacher quality, its relationship to achievement and the role technology can play in improving the act of teaching in the classroom. The conference series began in November 2004 and will continue through Fall 2005. Click here to learn about upcoming dates and locations.
Women-of-Color as Educational Leaders
Together with the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, Syfr Corporation is producing a series of conferences aimed at increasing the number of women-of-color in educational leadership positions. The first of this conference series was held in Washington DC in October 2004, and the second conference took place in Los Angeles in April 2005.
This conference series addresses our nation’s critical need for dynamic, visionary leaders for the future in America’s public school system. Each year, a major pool of exceptional talent goes untapped as women are passed over or not encouraged to seek positions as principals and superintendents. To help remedy this problem, Syfr Corporation the AAUW Educational Foundation are creating networking, mentoring, leadership training and career placement opportunities for women-of-color throughout the country.
If you are interested in receiving information about upcoming conferences in your area, please send an email to our Conference Director, Katherine Johns, at kjohns@syfrcorp.com.
We also encourage you to view highlights from past women-of-color conferences where you can view photos and download speaker presentations.
Education as a Human Right
Our 2004 summer seminar examined Education as a Human Right, contrasting the experiences of South Africa to that of the United States. The seminar also examined how the issue of equity has evolved to encompass school financing and intra-district equality. We also looked at how advances in medical technology have changed our understanding of learning disabilities and best methods for teaching reading to dyslexic students.
Click here to learn more about the agenda and speakers. To view their presentations, click here.
Technology: A Tool for Educational Innovation
In the fall of 2003, Syfr hosted a fall technology seminar designed to create a dialog between senior district technology staff and curriculum and instruction administrators. The seminar focused on using technology to further curriculum acceleration and reform, instructional change, and formative and summative assessment to improve student learning and achievement.
Click here to learn more about the agenda and speakers. To view their presentations, click here.
Education as a Civil Right
In 2003, Syfr's summer leadership seminar examined Education as
a Civil Right.The Education as a Civil Right seminar explored the
economic
and ethical
reasons behind NCLB as it focuses on educational achievement rather
than access. The policies of NCLB were discussed in terms of their
ability to insure that every child receives a successful high quality
education. Participants than discussed practical solutions ranging
from district policies to classroom practice.
Click here to learn more about the agenda and speakers. To view their presentations, click here.
The American Presidency: Lessons in Leadership for Educators
No solution to the problems in education will work without effective leadership, so in 2002 our seminar focused on studying the American presidency for lessons in leadership that are applicable to education. Presenters included professors and authors on the American presidency: Mike Nelson, a professor at Rhodes College; Mark Neely, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author; and Sid Milkis, a professor at the University of Virginia and the co-author of Presidential Greatness — a book we provided to help participants prepare for the seminar. Mike Nelson began the seminar by discussing the writing of the U.S. Constitution and the leadership role played by George Washington. He was followed by Mark Neely, who discussed the leadership challenges faced by Abraham Lincoln. Finally, Sid Milkis covered Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the creation of the modern presidency.
The result of this seminar and a presentation by Anthony Amato, the superintendent of Hartford, Connecticut at the time, was to view leadership as a system or process that could be defined with identifiable steps for implementation. The articles appearing in the article section of this web site are based on a combination of Mr. Amato’s approach to leadership and the presentations of the three speakers.
The New Economy: Ramifications for K–12 Education
The examination of globalization and technology laid the groundwork for us to look at three types of learning gaps: the difference in achievement among U.S. students with varying family incomes, the difference in achievement between American students and their foreign counterparts, and the difference between what American students are learning today and what the world of tomorrow will require.
Family income and educational achievement have always had a strong correlation in the United States. A higher income generates higher educational attainment, but today more than ever before, educational attainment also drives income. As a result, the loop is closing: it is harder for a family with low income and little education to break the cycle and succeed.
Finding solutions which can diminish educational performance differences based on family income is challenging. At our seminars, we discussed both the promise and results of strategies such as school choice, class size, extended time in the form of summer school and after-school programs, professional development for teachers, and technology. In many cases research on the results of these approaches are incomplete or inconclusive. School choice falls into that category. Even professional development data is somewhat vague when looking at it as an intervention strategy for student results. Research does indicate, however, that Extended time, such as after-school and summer school, and technology are promising intervention strategies.
But the most promising news from these discussions, however, was that several interventions strategies appear to benefit low-income students in particular and therefore hold out considerable promise for reducing the learning gap, if the strategies are applied correctly. This requires a willingness to use these strategies with low-income students knowing that higher income students may not have access to the same strategies.
Speakers on this topic included Cecilia Rouse, an economist from Princeton University conducting research on education issues including school choice, and Richard Elmore, a professor at Harvard and writer on professional development issues.
Closing the international learning gap and the learning gap between what is taught today and what is required in the real world of tomorrow will require curriculum reform. Both of these issues can be addressed through improved content coverage. Unfortunately, the current curriculum standards in most states do not encourage curriculum reform.
Speakers on this topic included William Schmidt, U.S. research coordinator for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study and a professor at Michigan State University, and Ray Farley, a former superintendent and expert on technology and educational futures.
The Impact of Globalization and Technology on Education: Educating in the 21st Century
Syfr held its first seminar for superintendents and administrators in July 2000. This seminar was the first of two that focused on how globalization and technology have affected the structure of the economy and the ramifications of economic change for public schools.
As late as the early 1980s, many experts believed that technology at various events would “dumb down” jobs so that workers would need fewer skills. They also believed that the percentage of students going to college after high school was too high and that there would be an oversupply of skilled workers. In fact, technological advances actually created an economy that valued a higher level of cognitive and interpersonal skills, which, in turn, led to an ever-increasing premium being paid for higher education. Globalization contributed greatly to this trend as entire industries moved overseas taking with them jobs that required relatively low levels of skill and training. At the same time, the freer flow of labor from Mexico depressed the wage scale for low skilled jobs in the US service sector.
Globalization also effected the demand for skilled workers. On the one hand, globalization increased the demand for high-tech goods and services produced in the US. On the other hand, globalization allowed US corporations to send high-skilled jobs overseas. For example, when a shortage of programmers emerged in the US, corporations discovered that overseas programmers in Israel and India could not only ameliorate the shortage, but often provide the same work at a lower cost. In addition, for the last thirty years, American universities have filled their graduate programs in engineering, science, math and computer science with foreign students, many of whom have chosen to remain in the United States. While this provided American Corporations with additional skilled workers, it also depressed the premium paid to skilled workers, if you believe in the law of supply and demand.
Our discussions on the impact of Globalization on job skills were led by economists including Ray Marshall, former U.S. secretary of labor, and Alan Krueger, chief economist from the U.S. Department of Labor.
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