Communications Update

New SREB president selected

David S. Spence has been selected as the next president of the Southern Regional Education Board, America’s first interstate compact for education. Dr. Spence, a former vice president of SREB and now executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of the California State University System, was selected through a search that began last fall.

Dr. Spence will succeed SREB President Mark Musick in August 2005 as Musick completes 30 years with the organization, including 16 years as president. There is a press release (and a high-resolution picture) at the SREB Web site (www.sreb.org).

Legislative Work Conference and Executive Committee meeting

The SREB Legislative Work Conference — the nation’s first forum for legislators on education issues facing states — held its 53^rd session in St. Petersburg, Florida, in November. The conference was held in conjunction with a meeting of the SREB Executive Committee.

Teacher Center/Nursing portal

At the Legislative Work Conference, Louisiana Governor and SREB Chair Kathleen Babineaux Blanco formally launched a new Web site for teachers, the SREB-State Teacher Center (http://TheTeacherCenter.org).

Earlier, SREB’s Electronic Campus (http://ElectronicCampus.org) and the SREB Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing (www.sreb.org/programs/Nursing/nursingindex.asp) joined a consortium of five universities in the SREB region to create a pilot program of online courses for people who want to become teachers of nursing.

Challenge to Lead Goals for Education

SREB states can lead the nation in educational progress, and SREB has adopted 12 Challenge to Lead Goals for Education to spur its 16 member states on. How they are doing is the subject of state-by-state reports (available on the Web site at www.sreb.org.

In addition, there will be detailed SREB reports on the 12 goals each two-year period. Four reports — on teachers, leadership, and student achievement in the early grades and the middle grades — were presented at the Annual Meeting last summer. A report has just been done on college access and affordability. In addition, there are reports on adult learning, state policies on high school graduation, and online professional development. There are numerous reports from SREB’s High Schools That Work (including one giving 10 strategies for raising achievement and improving high school completion rates). SREB reports are available at the SREB Web site.

Go Alliance for college access

Representatives of 14 SREB states recently met in Atlanta to launch the Go Alliance.

What is the Go Alliance? It is a partnership of SREB states that have launched — or plan to launch — campaigns to get more students enrolled in college. These states want to improve their rates of college attendance, particularly among groups that have been underrepresented in colleges.

Call or e-mail Joan Lord, SREB’s director of educational policies, to learn more. Call her at (404) 875-9211 (the main SREB number); her e-mail address is joan.lord@sreb.org.

Legislative news

You should have received the annual SREB Legislative Briefing and 2005’s first Legislative Report. If not, they are available online.

More or less monthly, SREB puts out a Legislative Report summarizing what the legislatures in its states are doing with regard to education. They are done by Gale Gaines (gale.gaines@sreb.org), SREB’s director of legislative services. Reach her by e-mail or through the main SREB number.

Key persons at SREB

1. SREB spends a lot of time informing state policy-makers. The media play an important role, and SREB people are glad to talk with reporters. Everyone can be reached through the main SREB number (404-875-9211) or by e-mail. (Everyone’s e-mail address is on the Web site under “Staff.”) In addition to those already named, some key staff members are:
2. Bruce Chaloux (bruce.chaloux@sreb.org), director of SREB’s Electronic Campus, which has more than 9,000 online courses and 400 degree programs from roughly 350 colleges and universities in all SREB states.
3. Bill Thomas (bthomas@sreb.org), SREB’s director of education technology. If you have technology-related questions (about the federal e-rate program, for example), he is the person to call.
4. Eula Aiken (eula.aiken@sreb.org) is director of the SREB Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing, the only regional organization for nurse educators in the nation that is affiliated with an interstate compact.
5. SREB Web site (www.sreb.org). This is not a person, of course, but it leads to SREB reports, extensive data and many programs.

The Southern Regional Education Board, America’s first interstate compact for education, has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

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