ATLANTA — State and national education leaders will gather with legislators from 16 states at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Regional Education Board, being held jointly with the SREB Legislative Work Conference June 25-28 in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Participants will examine the region’s progress in improving public education and will map out strategies for addressing the most critical current issues.
SREB works with its member states to help them meet the SREB Challenge to Lead Goals for Education, which call for higher student achievement at every level, from pre-K to postsecondary study.
With North Carolina Governor (and SREB Chair) Beverly Perdue presiding, state and national leaders at the Annual Meeting will focus on June 27 on ways to substantially increase students’ readiness for college and careers, including adding transitional courses in the senior year of high school to ready more students for postsecondary work.
A highlight of the meeting will be the report of the SREB Middle Grades Commission, led by Governor Perdue, outlining recommendations for state policy that can boost students’ academic achievement in the middle grades and better prepare them for ninth grade — the point at which many students now drop out. Governor Perdue will attend June 27 only.
Thomas J. Kane, a Harvard University professor and the deputy director for Research and Data with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will join SREB President Dave Spence and other leaders to discuss what states can do to boost teacher effectiveness.
Among other sessions, highlights about the nation’s college graduation rates from the upcoming SREB Fact Book on Higher Education, to be released this summer in its first national edition, also will be presented.
More than 60 legislators at SREB’s 60th annual Legislative Work Conference will focus on raising high school and college graduation rates, the effectiveness of school principals, digital learning and other current issues.
To attend the Annual Meeting or for more information, the media should contact SREB Communications by cell or e-mail. For details about Governor Perdue’s participation, contact her press office at (919) 733-5612.
The Southern Regional Education Board, or SREB, based in Atlanta, was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. More information is available online at www.sreb.org.
