CSBA’s Gonzalez and Yee among Achievement Gap Summit speakers

Senior CSBA staff members Martin Gonzalez and Jo Ann Yee are among the experts scheduled to speak at the Achievement Gap Summit that state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell will host in Sacramento Nov. 13-14.

Gonzalez, CSBA’s assistant executive director for Governance and Policy Services, will discuss the critical link between student health and academic performance. In his work on student wellness, he has observed that creating and sustaining a healthy school environment plays a critical role in providing high-quality education to all children. As Gonzalez says, “The latest research suggests that serious health issues like asthma, obesity and oral health affect minority and poor children at alarmingly disproportionate rates.”

Yee, CSBA’s senior director for strategy development, achievement, diversity and urban affairs, will discuss how districts can support disadvantaged students by focusing on the “4Cs: Coherence, Collaboration and Civic Capacity.” This requires creating coherence throughout the education system, fostering collaboration between schools and the wider community and building civic capacity—the institutional capability to support and sustain long-term reform—in local communities and the larger society.

The dozens of other speakers scheduled range from academic authorities and leaders of education policy institutions to social commentators. Former New York Times education columnist Richard Rothstein, for example, will share the stage with Chester Finn Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, in “The Great Debate: Internal vs. External Factors in Closing the Achievement Gap.” Other keynoters include author and television personality Tavis Smiley and actor and activist Edward James Olmos.

Related link: Find the latest details on the Achievement Gap Summit and register for $50 @ www.sjcoe.org/summit/index.aspx.