Make No Small Plans: Innovation, collaboration and confidence during challenging times

Produced and hosted by Grantmakers for Education
720 S.W. Washington St., Suite 605, Portland, OR 97205
Phone: (503) 595-2100, information@edfunders.org

PLENARY SESSIONS AND SPEAKERS

Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday

Wednesday, October 27: Plenary Session: 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

(T)ED

Drawing on TED, the global conference organized around "ideas worth spreading," we've brought together three provocateurs to frame our gathering with boldness and creativity.

Norman Francis, Xavier University of Louisiana
Fording Educational Gulfs, Deepening Gulf Education: New Orleans as Crucible for Education Reform How can we align educational systems within a region to expand opportunities and improve student outcomes? America’s longest-sitting university president Norman Francis, an active participant in local, state and national efforts to improve education, will offer his vision for reshaping the Gulf region’s education systems to meet the needs of underserved learners.

Hilary Pennington, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Redefining the Finish Line: Educational Attainment for All
Educational attainment, long the engine of upward mobility for millions of Americans, has become stalled. Dramatically increasing the number of Americans earning postsecondary credentials is a critical strategy for breaking generational cycles of poverty. Hilary Pennington, who leads the Gates Foundation’s efforts in postsecondary success, will outline what it will take to ensure all learners cross the new education finish line.

Gary Knell, Sesame Workshop
New Media, New Partnerships and New Ideas for Learning
How can funders leverage creative ideas and new partnerships to engage the next generation of learners? As the leader of Sesame Workshop’s global effort to expand innovations in early learning, Gary Knell will help us envision how to transform teaching and learning to make real gains in achieving equity and excellence.

Speakers

Norman Francis, President, Xavier University of Louisiana

Norman C. Francis has been the president of Xavier University of Louisiana since 1968, making him the longest current leader of an American university. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Francis has served in an advisory role to five US presidents. His service includes the historic National Commission on Excellence in Education, whose findings, published in the groundbreaking work A Nation at Risk, created a sense of urgency for bringing about educational reform in the nation’s school system. Francis also served as chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, helping to oversee the state’s recovery following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita while leading the university’s own recovery and rebuilding effort.

Gary Knell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sesame Workshop

Gary Knell is president and chief executive officer of Sesame Workshop. Knell leads the nonprofit educational organization in its mission to create innovative, engaging content that maximizes the educational power of all media to help children reach their highest potential. He has been instrumental in focusing the organization on Sesame Street's global mission, including groundbreaking co-productions in South Africa, India, Northern Ireland, and Egypt. Knell is on the Board of Governors of the National Geographic Education Foundation and is a Board Member of AARP Services, Inc, the Jacob Burns Film Center and Save the Children.

Hilary Pennington, Director of Education, Postsecondary Success and Special Initiatives, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

As director of education, postsecondary success & special initiatives for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hilary Pennington leads the foundation's postsecondary education initiative as well as efforts around one-time opportunities to respond to unique challenges and unanticipated events in the United States. Before joining the foundation, Pennington served as a senior fellow at the progressive think tank the Center for American Progress and as President and CEO of Jobs for the Future (JFF), a research and policy development organization she co-founded. She also served on President Clinton's transition team and as co-chair of President Clinton's Presidential Advisory Committee on Technology.

Thursday, October 28: Plenary Session: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM

Means and Ends: Competing Visions for the Future of American Education

Despite our shared commitment to improving education, we face deep divides on how to achieve and sustain meaningful gains in student outcomes across the education pipeline. Join Linda Darling-Hammond, Rick Hess and moderator Kent McGuire for a spirited exploration of the future of American education. Debating topics ranging from education policy to specific classroom practice, Hess and Darling-Hammond will challenge each other and the audience to deepen our collective understanding of what we can do today to transform educational systems and outcomes in the years ahead.

Speakers

Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University

Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun professor of education at Stanford University. Previously, she served as executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a blue-ribbon panel whose 1996 report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future, led to sweeping policy changes affecting teaching in the United States. Her most recent book is, High Quality Teaching and Learning: International Perspectives on Teacher Education. She is a former president of the American Educational Research Association and member of the National Academy of Education. In 2008-09, she headed President Barack Obama’s education policy transition team and continues to serve as a policy advisor to the president.

Frederick Hess, Director of Education Policy, American Enterprise Institute

Frederick M. Hess is the director of education policy studies at American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy (AEI). Hess authors several books and the Education Week blog “Rick Hess Straight Up.” He serves as executive editor of Education Next, on the Review Board for the Broad Prize in Urban Education, and on the Boards of Directors for the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the American Board for the Certification of Teaching Excellence. Hess is a former high school social studies teacher who has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University, and Harvard University.

C. Kent McGuire, Dean and Professor of Educational Administration, Temple University

C. Kent McGuire is the dean of the College of Education at Temple University. McGuire is a tenured professor in the Educational Administration Program, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Temple University. Prior to joining the university, he was senior vice president at the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation. From 1998 - 2001, McGuire served in the Clinton administration as Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Education, where he was the senior officer for the department’s research and development agency. McGuire also served as education program officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts and education program director for the Eli Lilly Endowment.

Friday, October 29: Plenary Session: 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

A Sense of Crisis, a Call to Action: Good Intention, Great Commitment and New Roles for Grantmakers

As disparities in educational opportunities, resources and outcomes continue to grow, we must acknowledge that our nation’s persisting inequalities defy simple solutions. Throughout his career as a legal scholar, Derrick Bell has probed the intersections of social justice, policy, advocacy and educational practices. As our final plenary speaker, Bell will challenge conference participants to examine our own assumptions about how race and class affect education in America, highlighting gaps in our practice and calling on each of us to translate what we learn at the conference into bold and sustained action.

Speakers

Derrick Bell, Visiting Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University School of Law

Derrick Bell has been a visiting professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law for the past 15 years. A former litigator for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, he previously was a faculty member at Harvard Law School and was also dean of the University of Oregon Law School. Among his many books and articles is the text, Race, Racism and American Law, first published in 1973, and now in its 6th edition.