Event Details
Low rates of high school graduation in urban school systems, "No Child Left Behind" weakened by states' interpretations of standards, and a looming teacher shortage on the horizon are among major problems in American K12 education. The panelists will discuss implications of Manhattan Institute Scholar Sol Stern's article "Why School Choice Isn't Enough" -- an article that says that changing the way teachers are taught to teach is far more important than offering incentives based on performance and will also consider other reforms and obstacles to reform in K12 education in America.
Speaker Profiles
Michael Lach (Speaker)
Acting Chief Mathematics and Science Officer, Chicago Public Schools
http://www.cps.k12.il.us/AboutCPS/
Michael C. Lach is Director of Mathematics and Science for the Chicago Public Schools, overseeing mathematics and science teaching and learning in the 500 ele-mentary schools that comprise the nation's third largest school district. Mr. Lach be-gan teaching high school biology and general science at Alceé Fortier Senior High School in New Orleans in 1990 as a charter member of Teach For America, the na-tional teacher corps. After 3 years in Louisiana, he joined the national office of Teach For America as Director of Program Design, developing a portfolio based alternative-certification system that was adopted by several states. Returning to the science classroom in 1994 in New York City Public Schools, and then back to Chicago in 1995 to Lake View High School, he was named one of Radio Shack's Top 100 Tech-nology Teachers, earned National Board Certification, and was named Illinois Physics Teacher of the Year. He has served as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fel-low, advising Congressman Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) on science, technology and educa-tion issues. He was lead curriculum developer for the Investigations in Environmental Science curriculum developed at the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools at Northwestern University and published by It’s About Time, Inc. He has written extensively about science teaching and learning for publications such as The Science Teacher, The American Biology Teacher, and Scientific American. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Carleton College, and masters degrees from Co-lumbia University and Northeastern Illinois University.
Questions
Shalesh Kumbhat
312-955-0307