OCTAE Hosts Back-to-Back Conferences on Equity in Education

NAPE CEO Mimi Lufkin served as a plenary presenter on Implicit Bias at the first of two conferences held by the USDOE's National Advancing Equity in Adult, Community College, and Career and Technical Education Symposium. Moderated by Lauren Mims, Assistant Director at White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, other featured panelists included Lisa Williams with the Baltimore County School System, former NAPE CFO Claudia Morrell, now with Morrell and Associates and Dr. Bryan Marks with Morehouse University. NAPE's Senior Policy Advisor Lisa Ransom served as a member of the planning team for the Equity Symposium.  Following the day-long session, the Department hosted a packed, two-day conference on Minority Serving Community College Uniting for Student Success. Lisa Ransom also served as a workshop co-presenter with Claudia Morrell on Equity and Advocacy Strategy in Career and Technical Education and Apprenticeship with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).

(Courtesy in part by the New York Times, SNOPES, AFT and NEA)
On November 23, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump announced his nominee for the position of Secretary of Education, 58-year-old Betsy DeVos, who is described by the Washington Post as a "Michigan billionaire and conservative activist." DeVos is a former chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party. Her husband, Amway heir Dick DeVos Jr., ran as the Republican candidate for governor of the state in 2006. She currently chairs the American Federation for Children, an organization that promotes "school choice" in the form of education vouchers, scholarship tax credits, and the like. Read More >>

(Courtesy of Michael Statford with the help from Kimberly Hefling, Caitlin Emma, and Benjamin Wermund, POLITICO's Morning Education)
Donald Trump's stunning win on November 8 will install a president in the White House who is likely to shake up the current education establishment just as aggressively as he plans to disrupt Washington. Trump's presidency casts a great deal of uncertainty over federal education policy going forward. Read More >>

Rep. John Kline (R-MN), chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN), chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, issued the following joint statement regarding today's release by the Department of Education of final regulations implementing accountability provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act. Read More >>

(Courtesy of Jennifer Shutt, CQ Roll Call)
A leading Democrat said Tuesday that a stopgap spending bill has enough support to make it through procedural votes in the Senate, despite concerns among lawmakers from both parties about the harm it could cause federal agencies and a disagreement between House and Senate Republicans on how long the bill should last. Read More >>

(Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Education)
The U.S. Department of Education recently released a report, Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education," building on the Administration's efforts to expand college opportunity for all. It presents key data that show the continuing educational inequities and opportunity gaps for students of color and low-income students and highlights promising practices that many colleges are taking to advance success for students of all backgrounds. Read More >>

(Courtesy of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights)
Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president and director of policy at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement in response to the Department of Education's release of its plan to enforce the Every Student Succeeds Act. Read More >>

The deadline to nominate an equity superstar who has made a difference in your life or the lives or those you know for a NAPE Award is December 16.

The deadline to submit a workshop proposal for the 2017 National Summit for Educational Equity is December 18. Please share your great work to increase student access, educational equity, and workforce diversity!