Center for Child and Family Well-being

2006-2007 Annual Conference

Dilemmas in American Education:

The Struggle for Equity and Inclusion

April 12th and 13th, 2007

at

Bryn Mawr College - Thomas Great Hall

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Afternoon Breakout Session

1:00 to 2:30

Rochelle Nichols-Solomon
Community Partnership in Urban High School Reform

To build systems of excellent schools, reform cannot be accomplished school by school, but must involve whole districts and communities that are committed to change. The vision for a system of schools in which there is room for every student to thrive will require strategically aligning and deploying all the diverse resources of the district and community into a coherent plan for action, monitoring the implementation of such a plan, and creating the conditions that build capacity and support  continuous improvements. This involves changing the cultures of districts, challenging political interests and financial inequities, and finding solutions to professional and technical problems of curriculum, teaching and learning, recruitment and supervision, school design and management, and assessment and accountability practices.

Nichols-Solomon is Senior Program Officer for Secondary Reform and Partnerships for the Academy for Educational Development. AED is a bridge, a link between the problem and the solution, the need and the resource, people and their potential. 
Founded in 1961, AED is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to solving critical social problems and building the capacity of individuals, communities, and institutions to become more self-sufficient. AED works in all the major areas of human development, with a focus on improving education, health, and economic opportunities for the least advantaged in the United States and developing countries throughout the world.