Education Professors to Participate in Governor's Education Summit

The Neff Center for Teacher Education at Emory & Henry College, in conjunction with the E&H Mathematics Department, has been invited to participate in the Governor’s Education Summit on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia.

The Summit is intended to highlight key legislation passed last year as part of the Governor’s Opportunity to Learn Initiative. Dr. Douglas Arnold of the Neff Center for Teacher Education and Director of the MSP Mathematics Grant will present the work that Emory & Henry College is doing with the Regional Mathematics and Quantitative Literacy Professional Development Center.

The Regional Mathematics and Quantitative Literacy Professional Center offers professional development to a cohort of 50 classroom teachers from Virginia Superintendents’ Region 7 in two intensive summer institutes and an academic year follow-up program. The Center provides a vehicle for classroom teachers, school administrators, and university professors to create a dialogue that leads to positive behavioral, pedagogical, and content knowledge change among teachers and improved SOL mathematics outcomes for students.

The Governor’s Education summit will kick-off with remarks by Governor McDonnell and remarks by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The luncheon speaker will be Tom Vander Ark, Managing Partner of Revolution Learning and former Executive Director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Over the past 15 years, Emory & Henry College and the Neff Center for Teacher Education have emerged as a major source for staff development experiences and K-12 partnerships to help regional school divisions meet their goals for improving students’ educational outcomes.

Dr. Arnold’s presentation will occur during the K-12 & Higher Education Partnerships Panel.