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Harvard Graduate School of Education

The Askwith Education Forum , at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is endowed through the generosity of Patricia Askwith Kenner and other members of the Askwith family, and acts as a galvanizing force for debate and conversation about education in its narrowest and broadest perspectives. Each year, the Forum welcomes a number of prominent people from diverse fields to speak about issues relevant to education and children. Recent topics have included immigration, values, affirmative action, education reform, and the arts. All of these events are free and open to the public.break

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/askwith

Becoming Literate: Baltimore Early Childhood Project

Tue, Mar 8, 2005

Robert Serpell, vice chancellor at the University of Zambia, discusses the results of his five-year study tracing literacy development in pre-kindergarten through third-grade children from low- and middle- income families of European and African heritage in Baltimore. His presentation centers on how the concept of intimate family culture can assist in moving the discussion of educational disadvantage beyond stereotyped accounts of various social addresses. Catherine Snow, the Henry Lee Shattuck professor of Education, will provide an introduction.

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"L" is for Literacy: Reading with Children

Wed, Mar 2, 2005

Harvard Graduate School of Education celebrates the work of Dr. Seuss, with a forum to discuss children's literacy, the effects of parent-child and child self-motivated book reading, and child literacy programs. Initially created as a one-day event to celebrate reading, the National Education Association's Read Across America has grown into a nationwide initiative that promotes reading every day of the year and culminates on March 2nd, the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

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Closing the Nation's Racial Achievement Gaps II

Tue, May 10, 2005

Organized by the Achievement Gap Initiative (AGI) at Harvard University, this is the second in a series of forums that address Racial Gaps in College Access and Success. Closing achievement gaps is not merely a matter for K-12 educators. People of color are underrepresented among students who enter college; they have less success in college and complete college at a lower rate than whites. Speakers review what we know from research and suggest implications for policy and practice as well as for additional research under the AGI umbrella. Panelists include Christopher Avery, Roy E. Larsen professor of public policy, Kennedy School of Government; Bridget Terry Long, associate professor of education and economics, Harvard Graduate School of Education; and Vivian Shuh Ming Louie, assistant professor of education, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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Closing the Nation's Racial Achievement Gaps III

Thu, May 12, 2005

Organized by the Achievement Gap Initiative (AGI) at Harvard University, this is the third in a series of forums addressing Racial Gaps in School Readiness: The Importance of Early Childhood. Public discourse about achievement gaps is typically focused on what happens in schools and classrooms. However, the fact is that racial achievement gaps exist on the first day of kindergarten. The evening's speakers will discuss research evidence on the size of the gaps that exist by kindergarten, research based explanations for those gaps, and some of the implications for policy and practice. This forum will feature Roland Fryer, Economics Department, Harvard University; David Grissmer, senior management scientist, Rand Corporation; and Kathleen McCartney, professor of education and academic dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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(Not) Talking About Race Talk

Wed, May 5, 2004

Mica Pollock discusses race talk dilemmas with local educators, as presented in her new book, Colormute: Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School.

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Education for All

Tue, Oct 26, 2004

Fernando Reimers, associate professor of education at HGSE moderates this conversation on universal primary education. Panelists discuss why children across the world, particularly girls, children from poor societies, children who work, and children in conflict - do not have access to a basic education, why they should, and what's being done about it. Dean Ellen Condliffe Lagemann will introduce the distinguished speakers which include: Carol Bellamy, executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Gene Sperling, director of the Center on Universal Education, Council on Foreign Relations; Vivien Stewart, vice president for Education, Asia Society; and Elaine Wolfensohn, World Bank.

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Cognitive Science and the Science of Educational Policy

Thu, Nov 18, 2004

Michael Feuer, PhD, of the National Research Council, discusses the frayed link between cognitive science and the science of education policy. He argues that patching this link encourages the development of more rational programs of educational improvement, and more reasonable expectations for reform and research. Dr Feuer explains how cognitive science has changed the way we understand and study human decision-making and rational judgment, and is a source of much of what we now know (or believe) about teaching and learning. However, this 'science of rationality' has thus far had little impact on how we think about education policy and research. In this first lecture from a series, titled "The Science of Rationality and the Rationality of Science," Dr Feuer reviews several decades of cognitive research, providing the basis for subsequent lectures that focus on the complexities of education policy and research, and the need for a cognitively appropriate approach to these issues. Michael Feuer is executive director of the division of behavioral and social sciences and education at the National Research Council of the National Academies. He holds a PhD in public policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Technology as a Force for Education Reform

Thu, Oct 2, 2003

Milton Chen, executive director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, and 2003 HGSE Visiting Technology Fellow, discusses technology as a force for systemic change and its implications for K-12 teaching and learning including professional development and classroom modeling.

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Essential Conversation: Between Parents and Teachers

Tue, Oct 28, 2003

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education, MacArthur fellow, and author of eight books including *Balm in Gilead, The Good High School,* and *I've Known Rivers,* discusses her newest book, *Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn From Each Other.*

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W.B. Yeats: The Arch-Poet

Wed, Dec 10, 2003

Roy Foster speaks about the final volume in his acclaimed biography W.B. Yeats, A Life, Volume II: The Arch-Poet 1915-1939. **Roy Foster**is the Carroll professor of Irish history at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Hartford College. He is author of numerous books including Charles Stewart Parnell and Lord Randolph Churchill: A Political Life.

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