Education Now & In the Future:

Focus on What Works

by Bracken Reed

Successful educators never quit asking the hard questions. Are my students really learning? Are my instructional strategies the best they can be? Does our curriculum reflect valid research? What does the research say?

Now more than ever, educators are being challenged to ask these questions. Thankfully, people like M. Suzanne Donovan are trying to help find answers. A study director for the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academies, Donovan makes her living asking hard questions, searching for the answers, and getting the results into classrooms. Her work at the National Research Council has included contributions to the National Academies Press publications How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (2000), edited by John Bransford and others, and How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice (2000), for which Donovan was lead editor.

Donovan’s work has followed a clear trajectory, from synthesizing research findings about human learning and identifying principles that have direct implications for the classroom, to exploring how these principles might be applied in actual classroom strategies. Her most recent collaboration, How Students Learn: History, Math, and Science in the Classroom, will be published in the spring of 2003.

A keynote speaker at the upcoming Education Now and in the Future (ENF) conference at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Portland, February 10–11, 2003, Donovan’s work matches perfectly with the goals of the conference and NWREL.

"Bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners is what NWREL is all about," says conference coordinator, Kate Warziniack. "Teachers, administrators, counselors, parents—all education stakeholders—will gain valuable information from Donovan to help young people learn more effectively."

"While most of this work is geared toward meeting the educational needs of our region," says Warziniack, "these areas of focus are universal and apply to educators’ professional development needs in the Northwest and beyond."

Also, the Laboratory has teamed up with Washington State University–Vancouver to offer attendees the chance to earn graduate credit. Participants may also qualify for continuing professional development credits depending on their state’s guidelines.

Two other keynote speakers will address the practical, everyday reality faced by today’s educators. Erin Gruwell is a two-time California Teacher of the Year and coauthor with her students of the book, Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them (Turtleback Books, 1999). Hugh Burkett, former superintendent for the Clover Park School District in Lakewood, Washington, now heads U.S. Department of Education programs in comprehensive school reform, smaller learning communities, and dropout prevention.

The 2003 Education Now and in the Future conference offers more than 75 sessions and workshops featuring research-based best practices that improve educational results for youth and adults. Register via the Web at www.nwrel.org/enf/ or call 800-280-6218. For general information, call 503-275-9187, e-mail enf@nwrel.org, call 503-275-9187, or visit the Web site www.nwrel.org/enf/.