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Harvard Graduate School of Education

The Askwith Education Forum, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is endowed through the generosity of Patricia Askwith Kenner and other members of the Askwith family, and acts as a galvanizing force for debate and conversation about education in its narrowest and broadest perspectives. Each year, the Forum welcomes a number of prominent people from diverse fields to speak about issues relevant to education and children. Recent topics have included immigration, values, affirmative action, education reform, and the arts. All of these events are free and open to the public.break

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/askwith

Closing the Nation's Racial Achievement Gaps III

Thu, May 12, 2005

Organized by the Achievement Gap Initiative (AGI) at Harvard University, this is the third in a series of forums addressing Racial Gaps in School Readiness: The Importance of Early Childhood. Public discourse about achievement gaps is typically focused on what happens in schools and classrooms. However, the fact is that racial achievement gaps exist on the first day of kindergarten. The evening's speakers will discuss research evidence on the size of the gaps that exist by kindergarten, research based explanations for those gaps, and some of the implications for policy and practice. This forum will feature Roland Fryer, Economics Department, Harvard University; David Grissmer, senior management scientist, Rand Corporation; and Kathleen McCartney, professor of education and academic dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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Fragments: Links between Cognitive Science and Education Policy

Thu, Feb 24, 2005

Michael J. Feuer of the National Research Council presents the second in a series of lectures on links between cognitive science and education policy. This lecture focuses on sources of complexity in the American school system and implications for the design of rational models of education policy. Feuer emphasizes the intended and unintended effects of the fragmented system of school governance that exists in the US, the limitations this imposes on the use of existing measurement tools to gauge individual and institutional progress, and the problems that arise from accountability systems that inadvertently create incentives for opportunistic behavior among students, teachers, and school authorities. Given these constraints, Feuer argues for a new approach to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of alternative governance models, defining rational goals for education policy, and setting reasonable expectations for improvement. **Michael J. Feuer** is Executive Director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Research Council of the National Academies.

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"L" is for Literacy: Reading with Children

Wed, Mar 2, 2005

Harvard Graduate School of Education celebrates the work of Dr. Seuss, with a forum to discuss children's literacy, the effects of parent-child and child self-motivated book reading, and child literacy programs. Initially created as a one-day event to celebrate reading, the National Education Association's Read Across America has grown into a nationwide initiative that promotes reading every day of the year and culminates on March 2nd, the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

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Becoming Literate: Baltimore Early Childhood Project

Tue, Mar 8, 2005

Robert Serpell, vice chancellor at the University of Zambia, discusses the results of his five-year study tracing literacy development in pre-kindergarten through third-grade children from low- and middle- income families of European and African heritage in Baltimore. His presentation centers on how the concept of intimate family culture can assist in moving the discussion of educational disadvantage beyond stereotyped accounts of various social addresses. Catherine Snow, the Henry Lee Shattuck professor of Education, will provide an introduction.

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Education Reform in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Thu, Feb 10, 2005

Helen Ladd and Edward Fiske speak about their recent book, *Elusive Equity: Education Reform in Post-Apartheid South Africa*, which tells the story of South Africa's efforts to fashion a racially equitable state education system out of the ashes of apartheid. Fiske and Ladd describe and evaluate the policy strategies that South Africa pursued in its quest for racial equity. They draw on previously unpublished data, interviews with key officials, and visits to dozens of schools to describe the changes made in school finance, teacher assignment policies, governance, curriculum, higher education, and other areas.

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What Does Good Work Look Like?

Thu, Mar 3, 2005

Educator Ron Berger lectures on the study and research of student work, and how to improve the work produced by students by giving them models to to base their own works from. **Ron Berger** served as a public school teacher in western Massachusetts for 25 years. He works with the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound school network, Harvard Project Zero, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. His new book from Heinemann is An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship in Schools. This lecture is a part of the John Landrum Bryant Lecture/Performance Series, sponsored by the Arts in Education Program and supported by the Bauman Foundation.

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Framing Education as Art: The Octopus Has a Good Day

Tue, Mar 22, 2005

Lecturing from her book Framing Education as Art: The Octopus Has a Good Day, Jessica Hoffmann Davis, offers suggestions for making non-arts education more connected to and like the arts. This discussion is part of the John Landrum Bryant Lecture/Performance Series, sponsored by the HGSE Arts in Education Program and supported by the Bauman Foundation.

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Telling Tales: Reading with Michael Armstrong

Tue, Apr 19, 2005

Michael Armstrong, author of Closely Observed Children, reads from Girl Today, Hare Tomorrow, a story by a child that to him represents the culmination of elementary school art. This reading is part of the John Landrum Bryant Lecture/Performance Series, sponsored by the HGSE Arts in Education Program and supported by the Bauman Foundation.

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Arts and Schools: Reconciling Opposites

Thu, Apr 21, 2005

Dick Deasy, director of the Arts Education Partnership in Washington, DC, and editor of Critical Links, speaks about schools and the arts. Sponsored by the John Landrum Bryant Lecture/Performance Series, which is part of the Arts in Education Program.

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Assessing Literacy: Exploring the Reader's Mind and Heart

Thu, Apr 7, 2005

Robert Calfee discusses the importance of effective teaching and active research regarding reading and accessing literacy. Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education and Dean, provides an introduction to the lecture.

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