Supporting Student Learning: Massachusetts Style

A Half-Day Conference on Expanding Learning Time

January 8, 2007, 10:00am – 1:30pm

About This Event

The state of Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to undertake a systemic initiative to expand learning time to improve student performance and close achievement gaps. In 2005, the state legislature made available new grants to support the creation of district implementation plans. The following year, 10 schools in five districts were selected to receive second-year grants to begin implementation and expand learning time by 30 percent.

The ambitious Massachusetts initiative presents policy-makers, advocates, educators, community leaders, and parents with an opportunity to learn from the states’ experiences. Join us at this half-day conference to examine redesigning the school day and year, accelerating change in public systems, engaging leaders in innovative reform, building capacity in low-performing schools, and leveraging partnerships to boost learning and development. Learn about a new Center for American Progress case study by Hilary Pennington and hear from federal, state, and local leaders as we focus on the Massachusetts Expanding Learning Time to Support Student Success Initiative.

Keynote Address:
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) 

Session I: State Leadership in Expanding Learning Time

Hilary Pennington, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress and Co-founder and Vice Chair, Jobs for the future
Chris Gabrieli, Co-founder and Chairman, Massachusetts 2020
David Driscoll, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Education

Moderator:
Cynthia G. Brown, Director of Education Policy, Center for American Progress

Session II: Local Voices on Implementation

Paul Toner, Vice President, Massachusetts Teacher’s Association, former President, Cambridge Teacher’s Association
Robin Harris, Principal, Fletcher-Maynard Academy
Dr. James Caradonio, Superintendent, Worcester Public Schools

Moderator:
Jennifer Davis, Co-founder and President, Massachusetts 2020

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW
Washington, DC 20005

Resources

Video

• View CSPAN coverage of the event
• Introduction of Sen. Kennedy by John Podesta
• Opening Remarks by Sen. Kennedy
• Panel One
• Panel One Q & A
• Introduction: Video and Second Panel
• Panel Two: Q & A
  

Biographies

Senator Edward M. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for forty-four years. He was elected in 1962 to complete the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, who was elected President in 1960. Since then, Kennedy has been re-elected to eight full terms, and is now the second most senior member of the Senate. Throughout his career, Kennedy has fought for issues that benefit the citizens of Massachusetts and the nation. His effort to make quality health care accessible and affordable to every American is a battle that Kennedy has been waging ever since he arrived in the Senate. In addition, Kennedy is active on a wide range of other issues, including opposition to the war in Iraq, education reform and immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, defending the rights of workers and their families, strengthening civil rights, assisting individuals with disabilities, fighting for cleaner water and cleaner air, and protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare. Kennedy is currently the Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He also serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he is Chairman of the Senate Immigration, Border Security and Refugee Subcommittee, and on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he is Chairman of the Senate Seapower Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and the Congressional Friends of Ireland, and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia Law School. Kennedy lives in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with his wife Victoria Reggie Kennedy. Together, they have five children - Kara, Edward Jr., and Patrick Kennedy, and Curran and Caroline Raclin. They also have four grandchildren.

Cynthia G. Brown is Director of Education Policy at the Center for American Progress. She has also served as Director of the Renewing our Schools, Securing our Future National Task Force on Public Education, a joint initiative of the Center and the Institute for America's Future. Cindy has spent over 35 years working in a variety of professional positions addressing high-quality, equitable public education. Prior to joining the Center for American Progress, she was an independent education consultant who advised and wrote for local and state school systems, education associations, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and a corporation. From 1986 to 2001, Brown served as director of the Resource Center on Educational Equity of the Council of Chief State School Officers. She was appointed by President Carter as the first assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education (1980). Prior to that position, she served as principal deputy of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's (HEW) Office for Civil Rights. Subsequent to this government service, she was co-director of the nonprofit Equality Center. Before the Carter administration, she worked for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law, the Children's Defense Fund, and began her career in the HEW Office for Civil Rights as an investigator. Brown has a master's degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a B.A. from Oberlin College. She serves as chair of both the Institute for Responsive Education and American Youth Policy Forum Boards of Directors and on the Boards of Directors of the Hyde Leadership Public Charter School and the National Association for Teen Fitness and Exercise.

Dr. James Caradonio has been the Superintendent of the Worcester Public Schools since May of 1999. In that capacity he oversees, coordinates, and evaluates all phases of school district operations in an urban school district of 24,300 students, 2,775 employees, and 56 buildings. From 1993 to 1999, Dr. Caradonio served as Worcester's Deputy Superintendent, and he has previously held positions as the Assistant Superintendent of East Greenwich (RI) Public Schools, and as a consultant to the Cambridge (MA) Public Schools. He has also worked in the Boston Public Schools and as a ninth grade teacher in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Dr. Caradonio holds B.A. from Merrimack College, a M.Ed. (Secondary Education) from Northeastern University, and an Ed.D. (Administration Planning and Social Policy) from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

Jennifer Davis is the Co-Founder and President of Massachusetts 2020, an education "action tank" focused on expanding learning opportunities for urban children in communities across Massachusetts. Among the eight strategic initiatives Massachusetts 2020 has launched over the last six years is the first-in-the-nation state policy effort to expand learning time by 30 percent in a subset of traditional public schools, with a focus on added core academic and enrichment programming for students and professional development and planning time for teachers. Jennifer's previous positions include serving as Executive Director of the Mayor of Boston's 2:00-to-6:00 After-School Initiative; Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs, at the U.S. Department of Education; Special Assistant to Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley; and Special Assistant to the Executive Director of the National Governors' Association (NGA). Over the years, Jennifer has served on numerous boards and advisory committees. Jennifer Davis has a master's degree in Public Policy from the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California and a bachelor's degree from Connecticut College. She was named a Coro Fellow in public policy in 1984 and participated in this leadership-training program in St. Louis, Missouri.

David Driscoll - As Commissioner of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, David Driscoll has a 39-year career in educational leadership. A former secondary school mathematics teacher, he was assistant superintendent, then superintendent of schools in Melrose, a position he held until 1993 when he was appointed deputy commissioner of education. After appointment as interim commissioner in 1998, Dr. Driscoll was instrumental in obtaining passage of a state law supporting his comprehensive plan for enhancing future educator quality known as the "12 to 62" plan. As commissioner since 1999, Dr. Driscoll has overseen implementation of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, the school and district accountability system, and the overload of the certification system. These initiatives have led to consistent improvement in student achievement as measured by state standards (MCAS), national measures (NAEP, SAT), and even international tests (TIMMS). Most recently, Massachusetts was named as one of the first five states in the country to have its No Child Left Behind accountability plan approved. Dr. Driscoll holds a doctorate in educational administration from Boston College.

Chris Gabrieli is a civic leader and business entrepreneur. He is co-founder and chairman of Massachusetts 2020, a non-profit foundation aimed at expanding educational and economic opportunities for children and families in Massachusetts. Massachusetts 2020 has shaped public policy at both the state and local level as well as directly helped thousands of children and families across the Commonwealth. Chris has been active in public policy, civic life, and politics. He has served on the boards of countless non-profit organizations at the state and national level and was the 2002 Democratic Nominee for Lt. Governor of Massachusetts. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts in 2006. A successful businessman, Chris founded GMIS, a healthcare software company, and spent 15 years helping other entrepreneurs start and grow their companies. Chris's firm invested over $1 billion in start-up high-tech and biotechnology companies helping to create more than 100,000 new jobs. Chris is also a founder and Managing Director of the Ironwood Equity Fund, a Small Business Investment Corporation (SBIC) that provides growth capital to expansion and later stage businesses in the Northeast. Ironwood seeks out investment opportunities in undercapitalized markets that have been overlooked by traditional venture investors. Chris lives in Boston with his wife Hilary and his five children.

Robin Harris is the principal at the Fletcher Maynard Academy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Academy, a Junior Kindergarten through Grade Eight elementary school, is filled with faculty, students, and families committed to building and nurturing a community of caring citizens who are lifelong learners. As a fifth generation Cantabridgian, Ms. Harris is proud to serve at the same school her grandmother graduated from in 1918. Ms. Harris received a B.S. in Elementary Education, an M. Ed. in Special Education, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Education Administration. Robin has taught in Cambridge, Boston, Dallas, and Bahia, Brazil. Ms. Harris also served for two terms as an elected member of the Cambridge School Committee.

Hilary Pennington is a Senior Fellow at the progressive think tank, the Center for American Progress, and Co-Founder of Jobs for the Future, a research and policy development organization. At Jobs for the Future, Ms. Pennington has overseen an extensive research and policy agenda, as well as consulting with over 20 states and many communities on the issues of economic change, youth transitions, and workforce development. Ms. Pennington was a member of Clinton's Presidential Transition team in 1992 and recently completed tenure as Co-Chair of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Expanding Training Opportunities. She has advised President Clinton and the first Bush administration on workforce and education policies and worked with the Secretaries of the Departments of Labor and Education to design the landmark School to Work Opportunities Act, enacted in 1994. Prior to founding Jobs for the Future, Ms. Pennington worked in corporate strategy and public policy at Aetna and the Boston Consulting Group. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Management and Yale College. She holds a graduate degree in Social Anthropology from Oxford University.

Paul F. Toner has served as vice president of the 102,000-member Massachusetts Teachers Association since July 2006. Toner taught social studies at the Harrington Elementary School in Cambridge from 1993 to 2001. He went on to become president of the Cambridge Teachers Association and served in that post for five years. A graduate of the Boston University School of Liberal Arts, Toner holds a juris doctorate from Suffolk University Law School and a master's degree in secondary education from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, Susan Connelly, and their two children, Grace and Jack. Toner is proud to be a public school parent and a voice for MTA's members, who include teachers, education support professionals, and higher education faculty and staff. During his time at Harrington, he taught seventh- and eighth-grade social studies and reading. He created interdisciplinary curriculum units with team members, was responsible for a seventh-grade inclusion classroom, managed an assertive discipline program, and operated before-school and after-school homework programs. Toner also developed a school handbook and policies, served as acting assistant principal, and belonged to both the Extended Day Planning Committee and the Student Support Team.