For the first time,AISD partnered with SXSWedu for this week's conference, which attracted thousands of participants from many parts of the state and country.
Throughout SXSWedu, innovative thinkers and doers tackled some of the most important issues in education—from standards and assessment to achievement gaps and educational equality. As one of the event's "Distinguished Speakers," I discussed “The Changing Face of Public Education: Today’s Learners. Tomorrow’s Leaders.”
Throughout SXSWedu, innovative thinkers and doers tackled some of the most important issues in education—from standards and assessment to achievement gaps and educational equality. As one of the event's "Distinguished Speakers," I discussed “The Changing Face of Public Education: Today’s Learners. Tomorrow’s Leaders.”
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| American Ed TV interviewed me after my speech. |
AISD coordinated our students’ districtwide participation in Future Plans: College and Career Fair. SXSWedu invited three AISD students—Jessica Cruz from Travis, Amanda Marquette from Bowie and Stephanie Park from LASA—to interview industry leaders, including Tom Vander Ark, executive editor of GettingSmart.com, Iwan Streichenberger, CEO of inBloom, and Jaime Casap, the global education evangelist for google.
Here are some excerpts from my speech:
The Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras said, “Choices are the hinges of destiny.” Ensuring that today’s learners become tomorrow’s leaders comes down to one thing: making the right choices with their futures in mind.
The choices that we make every day as educators has the potential to either unleash the next great geek, like Bill Gates, or to nurture a future artistic legend, like Picasso.
Our goal in public education must be to ensure that every student has access to a high-quality education. A high quality education provides students with the skills they need to have choices in life:
I’m from Selma, Alabama, which is infamous for its role in the civil rights movement and famous for its social justice role in the national legislation that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in our country. I truly believe that public education is the cornerstone of our democracy. And our democracy has always been rooted in demographic change, which makes us stronger.
The best way to serve the changing face of public education is to offer programming choices students deserve. AISD is committed to offering our families choices that prepare today’s learners to become tomorrow’s leaders by offering a rich portfolio of options, creating a college-ready culture and educating the whole child.
Austin has a global reputation as a place of innovation and creativity. Kiplinger declared Austin the #1 best city to live in for this decade. And, the Wall Street Journal reported that Austin had the fastest average net growth among college graduates during the same time period.
Austin is poised for an even more promising future. And, it all hinges on education.
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| LASA Junior Stephanie Park, left, interviews Jaime Casap of Google. |
Here are some excerpts from my speech:
The Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras said, “Choices are the hinges of destiny.” Ensuring that today’s learners become tomorrow’s leaders comes down to one thing: making the right choices with their futures in mind.
The choices that we make every day as educators has the potential to either unleash the next great geek, like Bill Gates, or to nurture a future artistic legend, like Picasso.
Our goal in public education must be to ensure that every student has access to a high-quality education. A high quality education provides students with the skills they need to have choices in life:
- Academic skills so they graduate on time with a diploma and an education that ensures they will succeed in college;
- Career skills so they are prepared to be successful in a rapidly evolving, technologically driven economy, in a world that is increasingly “flat;” and
- Decision-making skills so they participate as informed citizens in a democracy, with the smarts and the heart to be better leaders than we ever were.
I’m from Selma, Alabama, which is infamous for its role in the civil rights movement and famous for its social justice role in the national legislation that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in our country. I truly believe that public education is the cornerstone of our democracy. And our democracy has always been rooted in demographic change, which makes us stronger.
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| Students and their families had the chance to discuss their options after high school during the Future Plans College and Career Fair AISD hosted with SXSWedu. |
We all have heard the predictions about the wave, about how changing demographics of our country will affect the future. But the face of public education has already changed—and will continue to change.
Our district is more than 86,000 students in 129 schools amid changing demographics—our schools are more ethnically and economically diverse than ever. In our district,
The face of public education is changing in other ways. Since its inception, public education has operated as a kind of public monopoly. Public schools were largely one-size fits all, and tax dollars generally supported one public school system as the primary educational option in almost every community.
Our district is more than 86,000 students in 129 schools amid changing demographics—our schools are more ethnically and economically diverse than ever. In our district,
- three out of five students is Hispanic;
- two out of three students are from economically disadvantaged communities;
- one in 10 is in special education; and
- for one in three English is not their first language.
The face of public education is changing in other ways. Since its inception, public education has operated as a kind of public monopoly. Public schools were largely one-size fits all, and tax dollars generally supported one public school system as the primary educational option in almost every community.
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| AISD's student bloggers from left Stephanie Park, Amanda Marquette and Jessica Cruz hang in the Google lounge. |
The best way to serve the changing face of public education is to offer programming choices students deserve. AISD is committed to offering our families choices that prepare today’s learners to become tomorrow’s leaders by offering a rich portfolio of options, creating a college-ready culture and educating the whole child.
Austin has a global reputation as a place of innovation and creativity. Kiplinger declared Austin the #1 best city to live in for this decade. And, the Wall Street Journal reported that Austin had the fastest average net growth among college graduates during the same time period.
Austin is poised for an even more promising future. And, it all hinges on education.